Just a Moment (2021)

For Two Antiphonal Oboes

Commissioned by Chelsea Music Festival and Dr. Michael Sporn

Dedicated to oboists John Ferrillo and Amanda Hardy

Program Note:

Just a Moment (2021) is a meditation on distance and intimacy. One oboe is placed on stage and the other in the balcony. They call out to each other, note-by-note, phrase-by-phrase, creating an unfolding melody, catching each other’s notes, embracing these tones and the space that divides them, with subtle unisons and half-step dissonances mingling in echoes. There is a magical, trance-like sense of contemplation to the work, but also a sense of dancing joy. The audience hears the oboe on stage, and the echoes of the distant oboe from above, embracing and surrounding all in a sonic choreography that meets in the space between. What the experience of the struggles of the past year has taught me most is to appreciate fleeting moments of beauty and connection, and how these can sustain us.

- Eric Nathan

Recording