2001 – for electric piano & piano – 10:00

Sheet Music

Score (pdf)

Performances

World Premiere:
May 12, 2006
Arianne Ewing-Chow (piano)
Frank Horvat (keyboard)
Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Canada

Recording

Album: A Little Dark Music
Buy Song: iTunes or CDBaby
Date: January 2010
Location: CBC Studios Toronto
Musicians: Frank Horvat (piano & synthesizer)
Engineer: Dennis Patterson
 

Programme Notes

On September 11, 2001, one of the most horrific events of my lifetime occurred in New York City, Washington DC & Pennsylvania.

Even though I didn’t personally know anyone lost in the World Trade Centre or Pentagon terrorist attacks, I felt like life had come to a complete standstill. For 7 days, following September 11, I did very little other than watch the news, feel deep grief and exude an immense amount of anger.

All these emotions culminated in the composition, The Week After. Written 7 days after the event, I used the piece as my own personal means to come to grips with what had happened. In it, I deal with an inner debate on whether I should feel optimistic or pessimistic about our future as a society. The usage of a calm tempo with a pulsating beat, along with the Tremolo Rhodes (from a Roland JV-1080 Synthesizer), underlays how this event has had a surreal and numbing effect on my psyche.

– Frank Horvat

LT#037