Music with Oliver (2015)
Instrumentation: clarinet, piano
Duration: 5 minutes
In 2015, I composed Music with Oliver as a gift for a friend to celebrate her first Mother’s Day as a mother. With this in mind, I decided to capture the interactions between her and her son, Oliver, in a short narrative depicting Oliver’s bedtime. The narrative can be divided into four distinct parts. First, stars twinkle in the night above Oliver and his mother, characterized by high, sparse piano writing. A lullaby is then sung to Oliver by his mother as he is rocked back and forth. Oliver is placed in his crib in the third section and is mesmerized by its mobile, spinning in a fluid, continuous manner. Slowly, he drifts deeper and deeper into sleep. Oliver dreams of flying to the moon with his mother and father. Beyond this scenario, Music with Oliver reflects the nostalgia of remembering childhood and the experience of accepting changes in relationships: parent-to-child and friend-to-friend.