Death is my shadow. for two violins and piano - Score and Parts PDF

From the composer:

Death is my shadow. was written for Eric Nilsson's Fiddler X private concert series in St. Paul Minnesota. Eric, the brother-in-law of Garrison Keillor, is a lawyer by trade, but like his sisters, plays a string instrument. His annual concerts are filled with fun presentations around a certain theme. The 2019 theme was J.S.Bach. The commission stipulated that the piece had to reference the Bach D minor double concerto (second movement) and another influence, such as music from Asia. This led me to kulintang and gamelan music. Were Bach to visit Indonesia and Mindanao, he might have enjoyed the intricate interweaving of melodies in the gamelan orchestra (which pre-dates Bach's own music by about five centuries). He may have also enjoyed the rapid toccata-like music of the Kulintang gongs.

In this piece, I wanted to make a gradual metamorphosis from Bach into the gamelan and kulintang world. The music starts out slow and relaxed, with Bach-esque counterpoint, then begins to accelerate once the Asian music enters the fray, leading to a giant climax of synthetic gongs and rapidly arpeggiating violin music (the kulintang influence). The title relates to the idea that you must not dwell on the past: live as if today might be your last. In a sense, the music does the same thing, taking us from the past into a new future full of exciting possibilities.

Death is my shadow. was premiered by Eric Nilsson, Lydia Lui and Sally Scogin at Garrison Keillor's St. Paul residence on January 19th, 2019.

10 pages; duration 5'30"