Work
Dwalm
for saxophone quartet
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About
There is a strangeness to the duality of the word "dwalm". It is an old Scottish word with two meanings: a stupor or daydream (as in the phrase "in a dwalm"), and to faint or fall ill. It comes from the Old English word "dwolma", which means "confusion".
What is strange is that a daydream is such a light and lovely drifting of the mind, whereas fainting or falling ill is a sudden wrenching. Perhaps though, they are different surfacings of the same darkness.
This piece is half lullaby, half keen; both songs to set someone to rest, whether by drifting off or being bid a final, fearsome farewell.
Commissioned note
Commissioned for the 2018 Eighth Blackbird Creative Lab by Elizabeth and Justus Schlichting
Dedication note
to my sister, Chloe, who has always found light in darkness