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Debra Kaye Composer

New York City Music

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The Exchange, for clarinet and cello, 5’ (2019)

Commissioned by Access Contemporary Music.
Premiered on September 27, 2019 at the Doors Open Milwaukee Festival, Cory Tiffin, clarinet and Peter Thomas, cello.

I first saw a picture of Milwaukee’s Grain Exchange in a 360-degree view online. I could imagine walking in and looking up in wonder at its soaring ceilings and hand-painted frescoes, a feeling more reminiscent of a cathedral than a place of commerce. I was impressed by its beauty, the grand proportions, and the sense of open space. The light streaming through its dome skylight and towering windows seemed to convey a sense of optimism and American “can do”.

I imagined the bustling comings and goings of the people then and now. The space started to feel like a kind of piazza, echoing its Italianate architecture. I imagined it in its hey-day, the center of a flourishing grain trade; the haggling and deal making, arguments and agreements of the marketplace, and the social exchanges. I wanted my new composition to reflect the spirit of exchange in this “piazza”, a marketplace but also a place to congregate, then as now.

I found the three huge wall murals fascinating; homey scenes of farming families, merchants in their boats, and Native Americans with their families outside of their teepees. The murals honor each group as a participant in this exchange, and embody the values of the “heartland” itself, where people are at the heart of it.

I found it interesting that The Grain Exchange houses the first-ever octagonal trading floor. These eight directions made me think of the Native American tradition of welcoming the four directions. I merged these ideas musically in a section, about two-thirds of the way through that has a sudden regularity, and could seem to be a meditative welcome that happens eight times with minimal variation. I think of this as symbolically welcoming everyone in the space, and honoring all people.

Score Excerpt


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