Lament for the imagined (2011)

for string quartet - 25'

Commissioned by the Kronos Quartet

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Lament for the Imagined is a musical reflection on the Scottish Diaspora as I know it—through the traditional music of the American South and Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Having only been to these two places of significant Scottish immigration, my understanding of Scotland depends entirely on an assemblage of the “never-never land” and of the Diaspora MacGregor mentions above. Working from this vantage point, I draw on traditional tunes to connect Scotland and the Scottish Diaspora existing in Appalachia and Cape Breton. Music, I believe, can connect these three Scotlands in a fundamental way where words, people, and geography fail.

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