Melodies for Miles (2022)

Composer note
Melodies for Miles is dedicated to my old college roommate, the violinist, violist, and author Miles Hoffman (1952-2023), who introduced me to Jascha Heifetz, Zino Francescatti, and the tradition of Western classical violin more generally. Indirectly, Mike also introduced me to the existence of the Afrodiasporic classical composer. One day in 1970, he mentioned that he was performing an unusual work with the Yale Symphony that I might like hearing. The piece, Mestizo II, was an ebullient infusion of Albert Ayler-like free improvisation into the classical instrumentarium--a creolizing deformation of mastery. I was first completely captivated, and then astonished to see a young African-American take the stage to accept audience plaudits. I don't think I had seen or even heard of a black composer before, and I decided that I just had to meet him. That was Alvin Singleton, now one of America's most distinguished composers; we've been friends ever since. The musical material in Melodies for Miles isn't depictive of that era in our lives. Rather, each and every time the work is performed, its aim is to reconnect the three of us in the real time of listening. Johnny Gandelsman got to know Mike, and had the idea of co-commissioning a solo work in his honor. We knew that Mike was ill, and we really wanted him to have this honor. In the end Johnny wasn't able to give the premiere, so Josh Modney did it, and Mike got to see the video. He said, "Wow, that Josh Modney can really play!" And it turned out that Josh had heard Mike play when he was just starting out as a violinist. So on multiple levels, for Johnny, Josh, and me, the goal of the piece was to honor Mike, and now we have a piece that helps keep the memory of Mike's music-making alive.

— George Lewis