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Programme Note

Premiere:
March 28, 2008
Susan Marshall, choreographer
eighth blackbird
University of Richmond, Richmond, VA

singing in the dead of night by Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe is a collection of three works in five movements:
   Gordon, The Light of the Dark
   Lang, these broken wings
   Wolfe, singing in the dead of night

Each composer's contribution is meant to be performed with the others or by itself. There is no set performance order.

One possible performance order:
   Lang, these broken wings part I
   Gordon, The Light of the Dark
   Lang, these broken wings part II (passacaille)
   Wolfe, singing in the dead of night
   Lang, these broken wings part III (learn to fly)

Composer note:
the light of the dark was written for the ensemble, Eighth Blackbird. In my initial conversations with the musicians, they mentioned the "other" instruments that they play (accordion, guitar, percussion...), and I imagined a chaos onstage, with the musicians grabbing the nearest available instrument and playing music on it. The piece starts with a heavy-metal-esque cello line and builds from there into a kind of out-of-control late-night jam session, complete with unpredictable metallic crashes, swirling virtuosic fiddling and colliding glissandos.

— Michael Gordon