Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 04/16/2019, uploaded on 05/08/2019

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Here is a video of the West Coast premiere of For Fred for violin and piano, performed by Batya MacAdam-Somer, violin and Kyle Adam Blair, piano, on April 16, 2019 as part of the San Diego New Music "Made in San Diego" concert at the Ruby G. Schulman Auditorium in Carlsbad, California.

For Fred was written in memory of the legendary Chicago-based saxophonist Fred Anderson, in whose band I played piano while in high school.  When he passed away in 2010, I wanted to write a piece in his memory and selected violin and piano to capture the solemnity and emotions that I wanted to express.  After an elegiac beginning, the work shifts to a slightly more upbeat section, that recalls the music that Fred played at his club, The Velvet Lounge, where the bass player would play a bass line and Fred would improvise on that line.  We return to the Elegy and to the memorial tone of the beginning as For Fred ends quietly.