sullen in this sable mire, For with unbroken words they cannot say (2020)

for bass clarinet, Double bass, piano, and percussion

(5 min.)

sullen in this sable mire, For with unbroken words they cannot say is a reflection on the scene set at the end of Canto VII of Dante’s Inferno. Low, lugubrious textures suggest a mud so thick it tugs at the performers’ humanity, leaving each to struggle to express intimate and vulnerable ideas from beneath a layer of insurmountable bitter vehemence.

Beneath the water people are who sigh
And make this water bubble at the surface,
As the eye tells thee wheresoe'er it turns. 

Fixed in the mire they say, 'We sullen were
In the sweet air, which by the sun is gladdened,
Bearing within ourselves the sluggish reek;

Now we are sullen in this sable mire.'
This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats,
For with unbroken words they cannot say it."

(Inferno 7.118–126, Dante, trans. Longfellow)

sullen in this sable mire, For with unbroken words they cannot say was written for Steven Beck, Greg Chudzik, Matthew Gold, and Rane Moore, as part of Talea Ensemble’s virtual residency at the Peabody Institute in Fall 2020. The work was premiered via live-stream on December 10, 2020, in conjunction with a film composed of juxtapositions of Stradanus’ Canto VIII with various footage of the performers themselves; the film is a critical element of their performance.

Talea Ensemble
Rane Moore, bass clarinet
Greg Chudzik, double bass
Steven Beck, piano
Matthew Gold, percussion

Richard Drehoff Jr., composition and audio/video design

December 10, 2020
Virtual Residency: Talea Ensemble (livestream)