Olivers Lullaby

Program Notes

This Lullaby is a melody extrapolated from the song I wrote for my son, Oliver. It takes inspiration from traditional lullabies and folksong. It has features of traditional lullaby melodies with smooth melodic contours and a song-like cadence. This piece features a slow, free flowing solo-cello verse in the middle as a reflection on just how precious our children are to us. Near the end of this section, the cello breaks into a short cadenza written in a rhythmic, yet irregular beat that represents that slow, drawn-out moment that felt like a lifetime between my son being born, and his first cries which brings us back down to Earth with the re-emergence of the piano as we return to the feelings of love and amazement represented in the opening bars of the piece. This setting of Oliver’s Lullaby, for cello and piano, was started in August of 2023 and finished in November of that year on request from Dr. Tess Remy-Schumacher.

Performances