Cycle
CYCLE (2024)
for baritone and piano · ca. 4 minutes
Instrumentation: Baritone, Piano
Text: D'Arcy McNickle
PROGRAM NOTE
This piece draws inspiration from an unexpected source: a digital SAT practice test. While studying, I came across a poem that offered a quiet break from the test prep routine, which sparked the musical ideas behind this work.
My interpretation of the text explores the concept of cycles and the potential for fresh discovery within repetition. This theme is directly reflected in the structural architecture of the music, particularly through the deliberate symmetry and resonance between the opening introduction and the final ending. As the poem suggests, even within our daily loops, there can always be "fresh seeing" and the possibility of uncovering new meaning.
TEXT
Cycle
by D'Arcy McNickle
The night slips to its ending,
A new day shall come—
There shall be new roads wending,
A new beating of the drum—
Men’s eyes shall have fresh seeing,
Grey lives reprise their span—
But under the new sun’s being,
Completing what night began,
There’ll be the same backs bending,
The same sad feet shall drum—
When this night finds its ending
And day shall have come…..
PREMIERE & PERFORMANCES
Performance: Tianjin Juilliard Concert Hall
Performers: Jia Huang (baritone), Haoran Cui (piano)
Faculty Guidance & Coaching: Dr. Niccolò Athens (composition), Yinpei Han (vocal coaching)
