John Liberatore
John Liberatore — a very star-like start
Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble, Tim Weiss, director.
Luke Lentini, violin
Jason Butler, viola
Linnea Scott, cello
Katie Kim, flute
Remy Libbrecht, oboe
Amer Hasan, clarinet
Justin Gunter, percussion
Yimu Wang, piano
Program note:
"a very star-like start" is a short capriccio for eight instruments. While the ensemble has eight instruments, the persistent voice crossing, hocketing, and transparency of texture may make the ensemble seem much smaller. I completed the work at the Millay Colony, an artist colony founded by the estate of the Edna St. Vincent Millay and housed on her property in Upstate NY. The title comes from Robert Frost’s description of fireflies in the garden, a common sight on the colony grounds. The quote in fuller context reads:
“Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
And here on earth come emulating flies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.”
Though the title came at the end of the compositional process, as it often does, the poem did seem to express a metaphor for the mosaic construction of this piece, as well as the humility and supplication of the creative process.
—John Liberatore
