Moonrhymes
For 3 violins, viola, piano (2018, revised 2023)
Length: 19 minutes
Commissioned by Parlance Chamber Concerts for the Neubauer-McDermott family
This performance:
Kerry McDermott, Oliver Neubauer, Clara Neubauer, violins
Paul Neubauer, viola
Anne-Marie McDermott, piano
About the piece
Written with the theme of family in mind, Moonrhymes is based on nursery rhymes from different cultures. The piece is comprised of three movements (, in addition to an introduction and a finale, all played without a break): each of them focuses on a traditional song from a different origin: the English-Irish “Danny Boy,” the Latin “A La Nanita Nana,” and the Israeli-Yiddish “Numi Numi.” While such tunes have been sung as lullabies for many years, their lyrics are often more bleak than what might seem appropriate for bedtime. My treatment of these melodies takes them thus to mysterious, reflective, and dark places, using folk elements from various cultures.
Moonrhymes plays with the question of what rhyming could mean in instrumental music. Literal rhymes feature similarities in sound between words: the endings of rhyming words usually sound identical, while the beginnings are different. Likewise, the themes of the piece are very similar to the original tunes, but each carries a significant musical difference in pitch, rhythm etc. Additionally, many moments in the piece “rhyme” with one another: Accompaniment figurations reoccur while supporting different tunes (such as a repeated arrpegiated minor-7th chord), sounds and textures repeat through the piece (such as “glassy” chordsin the violins using harmonics), and musical themes float again and again into the surface (such as the melody of “Rock-a-bye Baby,” another popular lullaby that features disturbing lyrics and serves as a transition between the movements).
In the finale, all tunes—and cultures—join together: The Yiddish-based “Numi Numi”, with its Phyrygian mode, is heard in the bass and provides the foundation for “Danny Boy” an its iconic English-American useof the pentatonic scale, while also supporting figurations from both “Nanita” (featuring a highly-embellished minor-scale Spanish melody) and “Rock-a-bye Baby” (whose sweet melody is disguised under darker harmonies).
