Almost Morning

Program Notes

Almost Morning is a dance work for choreographer Claudia Schreier, composed in 2015.  The piece premiered at the Alvin Ailey dance theater on August 8th 2015 with a group of six dancers and live musicians.  Although composed for dance, my goal with the work was to create a piece of chamber music that could stand on it’s own.  The instrumentation is the popular “piano quartet” (piano, violin, viola, cello).  

Claudia’s sense of both classicism and quirky modernity influenced the style and tone.  The title refers to something our (then very young) son said to his visiting uncle, who had just flown to California from the East Coast.  Attacking him for a pillow fight around 5AM, exclaiming in a loud voice “get up uncle Adam, it’s almost morning!”  The sense of youthful energy and joy in this invented phrase seemed to capture the tone of the ballet.   I love the early pre-dawn hours, (often my most favorite time to write); to be quiet, take in the day, rife with possibility.  

The work has a sense of organic unfolding, as if something is growing or evolving as the music unfolds.  Phrases are often passed around the group in a conversational way, and there is a sense of syncopation and playfulness in the music.

– Jeff Beal