Liner Notes by Adrian Knight


'Abide With Me'

Originally recorded in 2007, then released on 'Time Of My Life' in 2011, and then subsequently transcribed and published in score form in 2012, 'Abide With Me' has become a favorite among pianists who've played my music: R. Andrew Lee, Francois Mardirossian, Karl Larson, Kelsey Walsh, Jon Clancy... I was overjoyed when Timo told me he was planning a video/audio recording of the piece for his YouTube channel. During the covid 19 pandemic, we all became 'content creators'—but what Timo's content was on a different level artistically and technically. The quality of the recording was so high that I asked if I might release it separately. The video is available to view here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2GK7D4STwo


'Trio'

'Trio' was commissioned by John and Astrid Baumgardner for the 2011 Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. At the time, I was preoccupied with reading biographical materials about Ted Bundy and his victims, temporarily leaving the safety of my day to day life to splash around in that particular pool of unthinkable horrors. The project gave birth to the present composition, as well as a companion piece: 'Ted Bundy’s Requiem', based on recorded interviews with Bundy taken just before his execution in 1989.

The more abstract of the set, 'Trio' is dedicated to the memory of Bundy’s last victim, Kimberly Leach. It’s a very minimal concoction consisting of bits and pieces from Fauré’s 'Requiem' ('Lux Aeterna') and Rachmaninov’s 'Isle of the Dead', orbiting sequences distilled from transcriptions of a continuous modular synth patch. These are then captured and filtered by a barely detectable electronic effects chain, acting like a collective sustain pedal.

Originally premiered by Jessica Oddie, Clare Monfredo and Ariel Borensztein at the Music Shed, Norfolk, 'Trio' has also been performed by Red Light Ensemble (in a version with viola), Longleash and Light Matter Trio.


'The Caligari Project'

'The Caligari Project' was commissioned by Red Light New Music and premiered on December 13, 2010 at Roulette Intermedium, temporarily hosted at 20 Greene St in Manhattan. The piece formed a section of Red Light’s score for the classic silent film 'The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari' by Robert Wiene and included sections by Scott Wollschleger, Christopher Cerrone, Ted Hearne, Vincent Raikhel, Liam Robinson and others. It was composed in Stockholm, Sweden in the summer of 2010. The piece may be performed with the scene from the film (the kidnapping scene, 41’43”-47’18”) or without it.


'Humble Servant'

I wrote 'Humble Servant' as a eulogy for Lisa McPherson, a Scientologist, who died in 1995. She had spent weeks in solitary confinement in room 174 at the Fort Harrison Hotel in Clearwater, FL, her physical and mental well-being in steady decline, when she was finally allowed to see a doctor. But it was too late, and she died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. She was 36. 'Humble Servant' is part of a trilogy — consisting of 'God's Children' and the 'The Royal Scotsman' (recorded by Synthetic Love Dream on Galtta 020) — inspired by the subject. The music is a labyrinth of short phrases and melodies whose bittersweet qualities remind me of Lisa, or at least the Lisa I would have liked to know.


'God's Children'

‘God’s Children’ is a meditation on the social pressures of religious zeal, a song-without-words taken from an unfinished monodrama about a Scientologist who died while under observation by ‘the church.’ Inside that ostentatious pressure chamber there must still be human beings, I thought, and I felt compelled to try to understand them. 

It is the second in a set of three pieces dealing with the subject matter, preceded by 'Humble Servant' for solo percussion and ‘The Royal Scotsman’ for saxophone and electric guitar with optional piano and percussion. The three works may be performed back to back or separately.  

'God's Children' is scored for two flutes, two clarinets, two alto saxes, two tenor saxes, vibraphone, electric piano (Rhodes) and piano. Oddly repetitive yet disorienting, the music spins ever inward, circling itself like a cat its tail. At the same time, I wanted the work to evoke a sense of true community, cleared of rank and status: a basic state of being, connecting with our core humanity.