THE HOUSE (2025)

For double string quartet, field recordings, sampled piano, and video
10 minutes

The House features field recordings of my parents’ house, made shortly before it was sold in 2024. Inspired by Gaston Bachelard’s book The Poetics of Space, along with the artists Aminah Robinson and William Kentridge, this piece methodically moves from room to room, listening to the sounds of doors, light switches, hallways, steps, drawers, glasses, closets, and the old family piano. What emerges is a portrait of the house, rich with the memory, dreams, and imagination of a family home. This piece is part of a larger “family portraits” series, which features music and films about different members of my immediate family and ancestors.

The sampled recording of an old 1960s spinet piano was made in the days just before we gave it away to a new family. I sat down to play it, and was astonished that it was still (mostly) in tune, despite not being played for a long time. Spontaneously, I improvised music based on a simple tune my father made for his children, based on the black notes of the keyboard. This became the harmonic background for the piece, adopted and expanded by the string quartets into long, spread out, sustained chords and rhythmic patterns.

The accompanying film is a series of nearly 200 family slides, each featuring the house’s interior or exterior. The slides move by at a fast pace, creating a visceral reaction to the quickly passing seasons and years. We are left with fleeting impressions of the constantly evolving family and house.

Together, the sounds, music, and images depict a very specific family and story, and yet they open this story up to something bigger, more universal. Through the particular, we are able to witness the patterns and rhythms of family life, and catch a glimpse of our shared humanity.

(Recording and further information forthcoming.)

Performers:

Devin Copfer, violin
Liz Fisher, violin
Daniel Jacobs, viola
Samuel Johnson, violoncello
Brian Harnetty, piano