Provenances: Concerto for Viola and Ensemble

Provenances is a viola concerto written for Marina Thibeault and Turning Point Ensemble in 2021/2022.

Provenances emerged from a project between Marina and me that began in 2018 when we collaborated on a solo viola piece exploring our shared experiences of becoming parents and the difficult births of our children. Our parenthood fueled the desire to create music that would both express our own experiences and provide respite for other parents and children. While it’s a truism that becoming a parent changes one’s outlook on life, the way people metabolize and grow through extraordinary experiences is something that everyone undergoes. With this in mind, Provenances is about life changes, perspectives, our bodies, and our relationships. Provenances is not typical children’s music, but instead explores concepts around the processing of trauma through mindfulness and breathing in a way that is hopefully engaging for listeners of all ages.

Provenances incorporates breathing patterns such as the “4 in – 7 hold – 8 out” calming pattern, Kapalabhati belly breathing, and the breathing patterns of pre-term infants. I encourage the audience to “breathe along” to the music as they pick up on these patterns throughout the piece. Finally, this music pays homage to Prélude pour alto seul by Ana Sokolovic as recorded by Marina Thibault. I began writing the solo portion of Provenances by analyzing the phrase structure and pacing of Marina’s recording of Ana’s composition and then used this analysis as the basis for my work.

view the score

watch the premiere performance

Tuning and scales:

High E Key Rapid Tremolo example (for bassoon):

Recorded by Dana Jessen for Set