Water Signs

Program Note:

The program’s second half opens with Water Signs by SMF composer-in-residence John Yannelli. Yannelli wrote Water Signs as a wedding processional. The music represents two individual paths that form a relationship by bringing together their respective elements, resulting in a union that is greater than the sum of its parts. The musical language of this duet is accessible and essentially tonal with hints of dissonance. It is not hard to interpret this interplay as a statement on the essential concord/discord of all relationships. The two instruments occasionally cross registers and share the roles of either soloist or accompanist. Water Signs is just one of many Yannelli works that reveal his abiding interest in water. Other pieces include Water’s Edge (2003), Milk-Air-Water (2000), Water Harvest, (1990) and The River (1988).

(c) Jason Stell