JOHN LIBERATORE
composer

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The title, “this living air,” as well as the movement subtitles, come from a cycle of poems by Garrett Brown titled "Manna Sifting." A particular object or mythical figure narrates each of the poems in Manna Sifting, giving each the “perspective” of something inanimate: the window, tomatoes, a river, or Michelangelo, as examples. Each of these is a lens through which the poet sees himself as he searches for the transcendental in the objects, places, and names around him. The last line of the cycle is the title of this piece:

 

“Who can comprehend

garlic’s smell, the sizzle

of onion in olive oil,

the fragrant green of basil?

 

These are the days of veneration, drop

to your knees and drink this living air.”

 

While the music is not knowingly inspired by or otherwise based on the poems, the poetry helps me articulate a metaphor for the music I’ve created. As a composer, I often seek musical situations where contradictory aesthetics ideas can coexist: nuance with overtness, logic with strangeness, spontaneity with structural purpose, and levity with depth and sincerity. To achieve this, I attempt to interpret the elements of a composition as they evolve, allowing the music to “suggest” itself.  The objects of a composition, in a sense, are the lenses through which the composition can reveal itself to the composer.  Perhaps this is evident in the opening movement, as a lyrical yet ambiguous melodic line emerges from and counterpoints the dry, pointillistic texture.

 

this living air was commissioned and premiered by Robert McCormick and the McCormick Percussion Group with pianist Eunmi Ko. The work is dedicated to Eunmi, with great admiration for a long-time collaborator and friend.