In 2017, the solo violin sonata Nostrorbis—loosely translated from latin as “our world” (Nos, Orb)—was commissioned by violinists in 35 countries. The work contains seven movements, one for each continent, each movement a fleeting but immersive aural snapshot. After being workshopped and edited by its many loving parents, Nostrorbis was performed on a ten-concert tour of ancient Faroe Islands churches, in a bar in New York City, at a city-wide music festival in the Netherlands, on a cross-genre music series in Dublin, and in concert halls in Macedonia and Spain and Indonesia and elsewhere.

Scroll down for program note, recording, perusal score, purchase options, and commissioner biographies

PROGRAM NOTE.

“Nostrorbis” is a putting-together of the latin words for “our” and “world”, and indeed for this piece commissioned by violinists from all over the world, I wanted a title that would show what our project is attempting to do (is doing!) in one of our world’s oldest languages.

Each movement is inspired by a continent and its folk music, and the movement titles borrow from cities (or ports, in the case of Antarctica) within those continents. The first movement is akin to a fantasia, the second is inspired by one of the mesmerizing rhythms in Ghanaian traditional music, the third movement is an elegy inspired by Mexico’s acknowledgement of those who went before us in their Day of the Dead and is dedicated to all those who perished and suffered unnecessarily in the early days of the United States as it is now. The fourth movement is a dance seeking to capture the tropical beauty of those southern lands, the fifth movement is a cold meditation telling of the slow and solitary nature of our south pole. The sixth movement is a lullaby, dedicated to songs that kept languages alive in the most terrifying of times, and the seventh movement is inspired by the body-humming timbre of the didgeridoo and calls out to all listening to seek peace and love in their interactions with all fellow humanity.

My deep thanks to each of the violinists who are helping to shape this piece; we’re doing something big and beautiful here: helping the world feel a little smaller and making some music along the way.

RECORDING.

PERUSAL SCORE.

PURCHASE SCORE.

Materials:
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