In Memoriam (for cello and strings)

(Artwork upper right, “September Sorrow,” mixed media, by Christina Bosna Farley. Performed by Ina Esther Joost Ben-Sasson, cello, with Donald Portnoy and the University of South Carolina Chamber Orchestra, March 31, 2017. )

I wrote these sketches during the days of watching the horror of the attacks of September 11: the collapse of the World Trade Center, the attack on the Pentagon, the plane crash in Pennsylvania.

I didn’t have a piece in mind, or consciously set out to write one. But the sketches seemed to belong together, afterwards, and to fit the solo cello. It is my way of holding each other in our loss.

It reflects my sadness, our collective sadness
the loss of loved ones looking for survivors, not finding…
Hoping it isn’t true, disbelief…
it is true…
The slow motion collapse of the towers…
with that collapse, all of our losses
our national sense of invulnerability gone

humility
interdependence
prayer

Post Script
December, 2002

The string accompaniment is meant to convey a sense of space. I imagine the lone cello voice wandering amidst the ruins, which resonate with loss and memory.

Hope may be found inside the heart bared open to pain, but also to truth and love.

(Also available for solo cello (original version), and arrangements for solos and duos with various instruments.)