Colin Kemper: Buffalo (2020)

From a solo recital in Sacramento, California
THE ESSENCE OF THE SOUL: Kevin Lee Sun, piano
November 13, 2024 | Music At Noon series
PROGRAM NOTE
Buffalo is a piece dedicated to several of my friends and their families who have lost their mothers. It was inspired by a Laura Kasischke poem of the same name, from the collection Dance and Disappear. The poem is a meditation on motherhood, spirituality, loss, and the intimacy found within life’s small joys. These elements become apparent through contrapuntal development, vertical harmonic progressions, and the unfolding of melodic ideas. They create imagistic moments that arise and recede at times gently and violently, much like the poem - and grief - itself. Clarity and immediacy are fundamental to the piece: relationships are laid bare for the listener so that each development attains an elevated intimacy. This intimacy extends to the score itself, where the performer is asked at times to play as though the music is inhaling and exhaling. Hopefully, by the end of the piece the audience has had a space to reflect and become immersed in the meditation.
-Colin Kemper
PERFORMER'S NOTE
Buffalo inspired my entire recital program THE ESSENCE OF THE SOUL. After playing Colin's piece in Pittsburgh, Indiana, Seattle, and San Francisco, I was so moved to finally play it in Sacramento, my hometown, with my mother in attendance.
-Kevin Lee Sun
Recording Engineer: Justin Stag

[@jameswiman]

So, so good.

[@KevinLeeSun]

Thank you so much! It's a beautiful piece.