Clark Street Bridge

A fast, energetic, sometimes dark piece based on a Carl Sandburg poem of the same name. Suitable for many concert themes, including urban/city life, alienation and connection, light and dark, and humanity. This piece is framed by the contrast between day and night in the poem's two stanzas--the same bridge bustling and busy by day and lonely, more intimate at night. But it's obviously not just about a bridge. To me, it's about the unseen lives of strangers--the volumes upon volumes of life stories contained in just a single snapshot of a city street. The poem hints at what these lives are like, but the details are up to interpretation--and that's where composers can bring their individual perspectives. Since--to me--it's about our unspoken stories, I thought about how the daily grind of commerce can alienate us from those stories, and how the calm of night allows us (or, in uncomfortable cases, forces us) to reflect on them: the experiences we've had, and how they've shaped us. I approached the music from this standpoint. -NRK