Instrumentation: flute, viola, harp

Duration: 10 minutes

Year composed: 2015

Performers: Zoe Sorrell (flute), Maija Anstine (viola), Natalie Severson (harp)

First performance: Zoe Sorrell (flute), Maija Anstine (viola), Natalie Severson (harp), October 14, 2016, Yanlay Dance Academy, Pittsburgh, USA.

Program note: Au temps où longtemps j’avais souffert was inspired by the eponymous poem by Emile Vehaeren. As it is with budding love, the different motifs develop little by little as the piece goes on. The harmonic material is purposefully restrained, having two main aggregates, like the two characters in the poem. Duos follow each other and change places during the piece like a hesitant waltz, evoking doubt, mystery, and sometimes suffering. The two principal harmonic aggregates meet in the piece and exert a reciprocal influence on each other until they fusion. The form also evokes the different phases of a relationship, made up of meetings, break-ups, but also reunions.

Au temps ou longuement j’avais souffert – score sample