Some Not Too Distant tomorrow
Instrumentation: solo piano
Duration: 4 minutes
Composed: 2017
Commissioned by: the Classical Recording Foundation and funded by a gift from Linda and Stuart Nelson
This title movement of my suite for piano and string quartet is inspired by a passage in Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail, which he wrote during a period of solitary confinement in the Alabama prison. The letter is an exquisite statement about the dire urgency of achieving social and economic justice, and about the moral and practical implications of nonviolence as the means of getting there. It's also a searing indictment of those who advocated for the status quo in the face of terrible injustice. And it's a moving plea for understanding, and mutual respect.
I hope the music conveys the profound impact his words have had on me.
I expanded the original sketch for quintet, but I’ve always loved the simplicity of the solo piano version.