Monument, for Piano – Owen Johnson (Score Video)

Описание: Monument (2025) is inspired by my family’s relocation from Pennsylvania to Ireland, and the distinct natural environments, mythologies, and histories of these places. The outer movements evoke memories from these two locations. Levee recalls a childhood hike I took with my family in the Laurel Highlands of Western Pennsylvania to a near-mythical monument—a stone pillar engraved with Chinese writing. We had heard stories that was it built to honor laborers, or to serve as a gravestone for a wealthy landowner, but no one had definitive answers. The excitement of this mystery filled my head, though when we finally reached this mythical pillar, it was revealed to merely be a garden ornament lost in the underbrush. Pilgrimage is inspired by an attempted climb of Croagh Patrick in County Mayo, Ireland. According to legend, it was on the summit of this mountain that St. Patrick fasted for 40 days, ringing his bell to banish the demons that were tormenting him. We never reached the top, exhausted by the near-vertical ascent and the fatigue from days of travel, so the mystery of this monument still lives on. The interlude acts as a glue between the two outer movements, meditating compositionally on the first and foreshadowing the second.

This piece was premiered by the composer at Distler Hall.