Selections from 'Unremembered' (2015)

Songs
1. The Guest
2. The Slaughterhouse
3. The Girl
4. The Swan
5. The Speakers

Songs can be performed separately.

Performance notes
Unremembered is influenced by both Western classical and vernacular (indie rock/pop/folk) traditions. Vocally, the music desires a relaxed, natural approach, drawing on aspects of both classical and vernacular performance practice without leaning too far in either direction. Depending on the vocalists, amplification of both vocalists and ensemble may be advised.

Program note
In full, Unremembered is an hour long, thirteen-movement song cycle inspired by poems and illustrations by writer and visual artist, Nathaniel Bellows. The piece was originally conceived for seven live voices and chamber orchestra; this arrangement of five of the songs requires two wide-ranged vocalists and puts the remaining five voices on pre-recorded tracks which are incorporated into the electronic sound design.

A meditation on memory, innocence, and the haunted grandeur of the natural world, Unremembered recalls strange and beautiful happenings experienced during a childhood in rural Massachusetts: a house-guest takes sudden leave in the middle of the night; a boy makes a shocking discovery on a riverbank; a girl disappears in woods behind a ranging farm; ghosts appear with messages for the living. The cycle explores the ways in which beguiling events in early life can resonate in — and prepare us for — the subtler horrors that lie beyond the realm of childhood.

An early version of five songs from Unremembered was commissioned by Roomful of Teeth in 2011. The next five songs were commissioned by the Ecstatic Music Festival and Kaufman Music Center in 2012. Three songs followed, and the entire cycle was newly orchestrated in 2013, followed by this arrangement of selected songs in 2018.