Credits
Matthew Evan Taylor, composition and saxophone
David Adewumi, trumpet
Developed and produced by Metropolis Ensemble
Founder/Artistic Director
Andrew Cyr
Videography
Sam Kann (MN)
Phong Tran (NY)
Editor: Christopher Botta
Juniper Creative LLC, Art
Commissioned and produced by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Department of Live Arts
This program is made possible by the Adrienne Arsht Fund for Resilience through Art.
Matthew Evan Taylor: Postcards to The Met
Postcard 12: February 2022
Blog Post — Postcard 12
Postcard 12 was filmed in Chesterfield, MA.
May 10,2021 and 1 Rivington / Candice Madey Gallery
February 6, 2022
Matthew Evan Taylor didn’t want to end the Postcard series by just fading away. He wanted to send it off with a statement. So, for the final Postcard, written for Dave Adewumi, he chose to explore a feeling of confidence: The piece grows from a soft, lyrical opening into a groove that has an assured tone. Taylor describes the music as akin to emerging from winter’s hibernation and in the music’s boisterous melodies, you can feel the excitement for the warm months to come.
The score is primarily text-based—a technique Taylor has used for a couple of other Postcards, like Postcard 3. He also gave Adewumi a few pitch cells to use for his improvisation. Adewumi had used pitch cells before, but it had been a while. Because of this technique, playing the Postcard got Adewumi out of his shell improvisationally and encouraged him to try playing in new ways. He recorded the work in a large art gallery space, where there was quite a bit of reverberation, after only having listened to Taylor’s recording a couple of times. He wanted to maintain the feeling of a live improvisation, where you’re doing everything on the spot, even though it was a virtual collaboration.
Though this is the last Postcard in Taylor’s series, the project isn’t quite done yet: There will be a live performance of the full work, Life Returns, that Taylor’s been composing throughout the year on March 24 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. And parts of the project will continue to live on in Taylor’s work: He’s continuing to use the techniques he explored through the series, like interlocking melodies and endurance, in new commissions.
Vanessa Ague
February 21, 2022
Program Notes
Postcard 12
To David –
Each day
we move
farther
away from the solstice,
the more the promise of light and life g r o w s.
It is our job to shake off the lethargy and introversion that served us well
~during the dark time~
and stroll confidently into the warmth, the green, and the cacophony of rebirth.
Watch recent Postcards
