The Ruins of Detroit (piano trio)
Instrumentation: violin, cello & piano
PROGRAMME NOTE
Detroit was once the global capital of the automobile industry. The ‘Motor City’ was home to Henry Ford and was the birthplace of the Ford Model T car that revolutionised the way we travel. At its peak Detroit was one of the world’s richest and densely populated cities attracting some the early 20th Centuries finest architects.
The collapse of Detroit’s automobile industry alongside escalating racial and social tensions contributed to the cities decline. Today ‘the Motor City’ is littered with deserted ballrooms, theatres, factories, schools and homes; poignant relics of the American dream gone wrong.
Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre captured the essence of these ‘ruins’ in a series of evocative photographs that document the faded glory of this once great city. Three photographs hold aparticular poignancy for me and it is from these I have drawn inspiration for this three-movementwork:
1. Ballroom, Lee Plaza Hotel
2. Car, Michigan Theatre (originally home to Henry Ford’s first factory and later turned into a theatre. It has now, somewhat ironically, been turned into a car park).
3. Piano, St Albertus School
A hazy and veiled sound world dominates the first movement. An extremely slow waltz isinterrupted by a spiky piano motif that eventually leads into a faster paced second movement. Mechanical and rhythmic, this movement builds to a screaming climax before rather abruptly moving back to the smoky, non-distinct world of the opening. In the final movement a blanket of sustained string harmonics underpin delicate prepared piano ornamentation. After a final low flourish the slow waltz from the opening reappears, moving up through the entire range of the piano until finally fading away.
