Candey | Not So Far As The Forest by Just a Theory Press

one song for soprano and cello

Griffin Candey 2018

Not So Far As The ForestPERUSALSCORE

PERUSALSCORE

Not So Far As The Forest

one song for soprano and cello

PERUSALSCORE

Griffin Candey 2018

Program Note

Not So Far As The Forest, commissioned by Detroit’s Juxtatonal (Jocelyn Zelasko and Bryan Hayslett) takes on the final and titular poem from Edna St. Vincent Millay’s five-poem set of the same name. These poems, rife with haunted imagery, death, and decay, paint a stark contrast to Millay’s work from only years earlier, poems that often traffic in confident, sexual, often flippant portraits of a young, openly-queer poet rising and thriving in a world that often tried to pin her down or diminish her. This shift in tone came from a tremendous loss: having spent time in France and having a brief and ill-fated romance with a French artist which left her pregnant, she retreated to rural England with her mother, with whom she was alway svery close—and while there, her mother brewed a medicinal tea, without her daughter’s knowledge or permission, that aborted Edna’s pregnancy. (There are conflicting accounts of how much Edna knew of this before or after.) What is certain is that Edna remained sick for months after this, only fully recovering some four or five years later. Retreating back to upstate New York, where she was born, Edna purchased her Steepletop residency, where she spent the rest of her life—and the first poems she wrote upon picking the pen back up were these five poems. This titular poem follows a bird whose wings have been clipped and, having attempted an escape, is left lying in the barren field between the comfortable home and the native forest. The narrator’s voice, addressing the bird, is liltingly bitter and critical, positing finally that a “once confined thing is never again free.” (Note: I would love to set all five of these poems—if this interest you, please do reach out!)

Instrumentation

soprano and cello

Duration: 5'

First printing, August 2024

Not So Far as the Forest

on poetry by Edna St. Vincent Millay — composed by Grifn Candey

PERUSALSCORE

Both soprano and cellist play percussive sticks, beginning around 240 BPM — the beat pattern of the sticks bears no relation to the vocal line or the violincello, instead acting more as background wash. The vocalist should, over the course of the piece, very slowly decrease the BPM of the percussive effect until, toward the close of the piece, the rate drops to around 100-115 BPM. The first percussive click from both players should be strikingly loud, with the rest for the entirety of the piece staying around mp. This effect can be played by a lone percussionist if desired.

Cellist quickly drops out of the same BMP as the vocalist, slowing to a stop within 4-5 seconds — they can take several seconds to swap instruments as the soprano continues with the percussive effect, then begin playing.

Timing in this piece is almost entirely a piacere, and is dictated more by spacing than by value of note; when it is important that the cellist and vocalist land on something together, the moment is notated with a diamond symbol. Strong beats in the vocal line (i.e. notes that are the most important words in phrases) are indicated with tenuti.

gliss.

PERUSALSCORE

Cellist ends harmonic, swaps instruments back to percussive sticks, and joins with soprano's percussive effect at whatever rate they are currently.