Skip to content

Away, Tear Away (2003)

Details

  • 15
  • Woodwind Quintet and Tape

Recordings

Score Excerpts

Sound Samples

  • Mexico City Woodwind Quintet

Program Notes

The bulk of Away, Tear Away was written between June and September of 2003. The title was inspired by a fragment of the poem Spell Against Sorrow, by British poet Kathleen Raine (1908-2003):

Black crow tear away
Rend away sorrow
Talon and beak
Pluck out the heart
And the nerves of pain,
Tear away grief.

There is a deep sense of spiritualism in the poem, which I believe is mirrored by the mood of the music.

The work is dedicated to the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet, who commissioned it through the Manitoba Arts Council.

 


Interested in programming the music of Michael Matthews?
Learn more about how to commission a new work, browse the full list of compositions, listen to recordings, view the press kit, or get in touch to discuss a performance.