2024
4′ 40”
Program Notes
Tiptoes Home, for String Quintet, depicts the distance that time places on our idea of ‘home’. While the phrase ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’ is typically applied to separated lovers, a distance from one’s past elicits similar romanticization, particularly when associated with childhood memories.
This oftentimes leads to an ethereal feeling when returning. Everything is the same, but different. Parents have grown older; your elementary school feels smaller; and most jarringly, you might no longer fit into that world. It elicits the sense of being an intruder on some hallowed, personal ground.
For a brief moment, this piece presents the gift of a true return home. After a buildup of foreboding, we arrive to see everything just as we remember, unchanged, as if we have returned not only to the place but the time of our cherished memories. Initially unsure, we settle in, content to appreciate this divine mercy without questioning its source.
Premiere Information
This piece was originally recorded in a reading session in Sarasota Florida, with members of the Sarasota Opera.
Violin I – Kim Hain
Violin II – Yulia Price
Viola – Linda Numagami
Cello – Paul Swenson
Bass – Ryan Bassett