• Joan Tower
  • For Daniel (2004)

  • Associated Music Publishers Inc (World)
  • vn, vc, pf
  • 17 min

Programme Note

For Daniel was written for the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio with a commission sponsored by John and Helen Schaefer of the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. It is dedicated to Joan Tower’s nephew, Daniel MacArthur, who passed away in 2003 after a long illness.

Composer Note:

The 17-minute work tries to convey the imagined struggles associated with someone who is facing a long-term terminal illness. The hopes, joys, depression, anger, deep turmoil and occasional serenity are in constant juxtaposition in this work, as they were throughout the last years of Daniel’s life. As the end approaches, so does the intensity. In my work, the intensity is loud and fast. Maybe Daniel’s approach was more accepting. May he now rest in peace.

—Joan Tower

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