the dark out of the nighttime
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for flute, viola, harp, and guitar
date: 2005
duration: 14'
first performance: 15 February 2005; Taplin Auditorium; Princeton, NJ; Janus with Andrew McKenna Lee, guitar
availability: for sale
recording: Gravity and Air SSR001-2009
NOTES
the dark out of the nighttime (all lower case) was written primarily as an excuse to involve myself as a performer in one of my own chamber works — something that I had never done before at the time I wrote the piece. I chose this particular ensemble because I thought it would be interesting to play with the combination of harp and guitar — two instruments which have similar timbral characteristics and playing techniques.
The title comes from a verse in the song She Belongs to Me by Bob Dylan:
She's got everything she needs,
She's an artist, she don't look back.
She can take the dark out of the nighttime,
And paint the daytime black.
The piece has nothing to do with the song aside from this, but I chose this line for the title because I thought it made a nice reference to the nocturnal quality of the piece. It also afforded me an opportunity to pay small homage to another important artist for whom I have great admiration.