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Applications IV: "On warm days he knows he should marry being" (1:00)

Recorded 17 November 2017, Bus Stop Theatre, Halifax
Emily Denison (trumpet) Andrew Jackson (trombone)
Scott Thomson (trombone, composition) Lukas Pearse (bass)

With characteristic determination, Ken Aldcroft sought regularly to commission Scott Thomson to compose for his Convergence Ensemble for a few years through a now-defunct Canada Council program. Scott proposed to set a nine-part poem by Bay Area poet Robert Hass, "Applications of the Doctrine," for Convergence with Susanna Hood as a guest artist. Poignantly, in the months after Ken died in the autumn of 2016, Scott got word that the proposal was finally successful. While re-assembling Convergence poses obvious emotional challenges, the Divergence Trio is primarily a response to geographical ones, since all three members –– fully half of the Convergence project as conceived –– now live in Montreal, where they have had time and space to develop the material. It is a first sortie of Applications as a vocal work (Emily contributed wonderfully to an instrumental workshop-band version in Halifax in November) with future versions and arrangements, for Convergence and otherwise, in Scott's sights. It is either a suite of nine songs, each with a family resemblance, or one big song with sections linked by different kinds of solo and group improvisation.

susannahood.ca

scottthomson.ca

emilydenison.com

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