Phaedrus

Description

Clarinet in Bb, Violin, Piano — I became interested in the work of Plato through my friend and collaborator, the writer and philosopher Paul Woodruff.xa0 Paul’s new translation, with Alexander Nehamas, of the Symposium gave me insights into ancient Greek ways of thinking about Love, Beauty, and Wisdom — and managed to keep the earthy, and often bawdy side of it all in full view.xa0 But their new translation of Plato’s later dialogue Phaedrus went even further: the beauty of the speeches is breathtaking, and the discourse itself is enough to keep one awake at night.Basically the Great Speech of Socrates in the Phaedrus dialogue has to do with the place of Eros in the world, and with the conflict in the soul between fleshly pleasure and philosophic discovery.xa0 I will not attempt to encapsulate this brilliant discourse in a program note: suffice it to say that reading it gave rise to my two-sided work for clarinet, violin, and piano, Phaedrus.xa0 The first movement represents the Philosophic life, and is thus subtitled “Apollo’s Lyre (Invocation and Hymn).”xa0 It begins with an unaccompanied melody for the clarinet, which (after a pair of harp-like flourishes for the piano, expands into an accompanied canon.xa0 The voices in the dialogue (clarinet and violin) follow each other by a prescribed number of beats, but the music is totally devoid of any meter at all.xa0 The piano, representing the lyre, accompanies this lyric love-feast with repeated “strummed” chords.xa0 The canon has three large sections, and ends with violin echoing the unaccompanied clarinet invocation as the sound of the lyre fades.The second movement, called “Dionysus’ Dream-Orgy (Ritual Dance)” presents, after a brief introduction, another kind of unmetered music.xa0 Rather than long lyric flights of philosophic song, however, this time we hear a unison dance of unbridled energy and sensual transport.xa0 The piece soon forms itself into a loose arch form, with contrasting metered dance sectionsxa0divided by the unison unmetered “orgy” tune.xa0 Midway through the movement, Apollo’s melody returns from the first movement, but it is a temporary reminiscence.xa0 The orgiastic dance returns, reaches a climax, and ends with a stomping of feet.While Plato asserts that a proper balance between lust and reason is necessary in all men, he (naturally) gives the nod to Philosophy as the better choice in which to live.xa0 Not so in my music: the two sides are meant to coexist and to complement each other.xa0 No sides are taken.Phaedrus was commissioned of the Verdehr Trio by Michigan State University.xa0 It is dedicated to the Vedehr Trio with great affection and admiration.