Time and the Villa (2016)

guitar and cello, 13'

Texts by Alex DeFazio

Premiered 2016 by the Patterson-Sutton duo, Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, CO. 

Time and the Villa was written for the Patterson-Sutton Duo about their relationship as a performing group and real-life couple. I incorporated elements of the two performers favorite music into the work, as well as the setting of their engagement--a centuries old villa garden in Italy. The piece flows in the arc of their relationship, from initial meeting and hesitations about each other to romantic encounters, and anticipating each others steps. In between the work's five movements, the players read sections of a poem by writer Alex DeFazio that help illuminate the more abstract sections. The climax of the piece is the fourth movement, which has the players reach over to play each other's instruments, while fingering their own to make strummed chords. The piece ends with a tango.