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Second Solstice

Premiere performance given on January 30, 2025 in the beautiful Kopleff Recital Hall in Atlanta by the Petrasek Duo: Jessica Petrasek, flute and Joe Petrasek, vibraphone. For more info on the piece and to purchase the music, please visit: nickitasdemos.com. Program Notes: Second Solstice is a reworking of a duo composed in 2023 entitled Solstice Sonorities which was dedicated to my colleagues, trumpeter Alexander Freund and guitarist Luther Enloe. At one of the performances of the trumpet/guitar duo, I was approached by percussionist Joe Petrasek (Principal Percussionist of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra) and his wife, flutist Jessica Petrasek (Artistic Affiliate at the Georgia State University School of Music), who suggested that the duo might also sound great for flute and vibraphone and that their duo (Petrasek Duo) might be interested in performing such a version in the future. Of course, I immediately set to work on creating a version of the duo for their instrumentation! The original duo, Solstice Sonorities, was largely composed around the 2023 Summer Solstice. Aside from its title, there was no real programmatic intent to the piece. When I finished however, it seemed to me that, although a stretch, one might be reminded of the heavy, languid heat that ushers in the summer season (especially in Atlanta) as found in the long, free-flowing melodies of the trumpet both playing solo and while accompanied by a more lilting arpeggiated figure in the guitar. These long lines bookended the work with a more energetic, rhythmic section in the middle. In retrospect, after finishing the piece, the middle section struck me as reminiscent of evening summer festivities taking place when the sun sets, drinks are poured, and the temperatures cool a bit. As I worked on the new version for flute and vibraphone, it soon became apparent that I could not simply switch instruments and leave everything else the same. There were a lot of decisions to be made owing to the differences in ranges and idiomatic tendencies found in the new instrumentation. In addressing those issues, I also began composing additional music and making significant changes to the existing music. Tinkering on the piece turned into a bigger project and given the number of changes, I consider this to be a separate piece that, while resembling the original, had its own individual character and vitality. I began pre-work and planning on the flute/vibraphone version of this duo around the time of the 2023 Winter Solstice although the bulk of the composition took place in late February/early March 2024. Therefore, taking a little bit of license on the time frame I worked on the revised duo and given the substantive differences between the two pieces, I decided to rename this composition Second Solstice and dedicate it to Joe and Jessica Petrasek. Programmatically, I’m not sure the music reflects the feeling of the short days and long cold nights surrounding the time of the Winter Solstice. However, since the original program idea of the piece is a bit of a stretch anyway, why not stretch a bit more to imagine this music as longing for those long, warm days and short nights surrounding the time of the Summer Solstice?