a.j. mccaffrey, composer
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Here Come the Waterworks [2017]
For viola and piano
Duration: ca. 12'
Listen to a recording by violist Jonah Sirota and pianist Molly Morkoski:
Commissioned by Jonah Sirota
Featured on Jonah's Strong Sad commissioning and recording project, available on Bandcamp
First performance: April 19, 2017 with pianist Thomas Kotcheff

After talking with Jonah about our own perspectives on the traditional “elegiac” nature of his instrument, I came away wanting to write a piece that reflected some of my recent thoughts on the act of processing trauma.  That is, I was not interested in depicting a traumatic or tragic event, but rather the rituals and gestures that we enact in order to go through stressful or difficult emotions.  I ended up thinking of the viola as a character that was trying to “re-learn” speech or song, and this came out (as somewhat of a surprise to me) as microtones – inflections of notes on the viola that lie in between the notes on the piano.  These “in-between notes” also emerge throughout as a kind of “keening” or sighing figure.  As with most of my pieces, the mood changes throughout, as the material occasionally becomes distracted, lashes out in grief, anger, or catharsis, or retreats into contemplation.

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  • Home
  • About A.J.
  • News & Events
  • Music
    • Orchestral >
      • Motormouth
      • Thank You for Waiting
      • Notes from the Underdog
      • A Long Hard Look at a Good Swift Kick
      • Between homage and homily
    • Chamber & Solo >
      • Pareidolia
      • Air, Ear, Ire, Hour, Aura
      • Ventilator
      • Murmurations
      • Doppelgänger
      • Here Come the Waterworks
      • This Is What Really Happened
      • Rusticity
      • Stop is the new Go
      • Better Living through Repetition
      • I used to be____________, but now I'm _______________
      • worst of all is to begin
    • Choral & Vocal >
      • The Butcher Boy
    • Pop Music >
      • Planes Intersect
      • Please Leave a Light on When You Go
    • Theater & Film
  • Teaching & Outreach