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Tachycardia (version for 2 Clarinets)

Instrumentation: Two Clarinets

Duration: 5'

Year: 2018

 

YouTube (version for 2 Alto Saxophones)

Program note:

Tachycardia is scored for two Alto Saxophones, though it may be played on any pair of like or similar instruments.  I have a mild heart condition called Atrial Tachycardia, and for as long as I can remember, I have felt my heart skip beats.  I was writing Tachycardia during a period when I was actively addressing my heart condition, and for the first time, following two procedures, my heart stop skipping.  The sensation of feeling my heartbeat now in a regular, normal rhythm, was both odd and surreal, but it was also inspiring to me to put into sound.  The two instruments represent the two halves of a human heart, each containing one atrium and one ventricle.  In this short piece, they work together, interlocking and producing a life moving force that keeps the sound moving forward.  The music rarely stops or pauses, and keeps beating to the end, always in a regular meter.  

 

Tachycardia is the result of an international consortium of 32 Saxophonists.  It was one of the quickest forming consortiums I have ever been involved in, fully formed in less than 24 hours. 

-MM

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