Of Sons and Fathers was commissioned by Austin Seybert. He requested a piece that incorporated recorded media or electronics. It was completed in November, 2019 and received its first full performance in the spring of 2022. A YouTube video of Rage Time was presented at the virtual session of the Rafael Mendez Brass Institute in the summer of 2020.
This piece is a reflection on the relationship between sons and their fathers. In part, it is a tribute to my own father, William Evan Edwards, who died of cancer in 1980. However, it mostly isn’t autobiographical. For example, my own teenage years aren’t reflected in Rage Time.
Each movement has an audio montage that goes along with a piano vamp. I am grateful to colleagues and friends for providing some of these sound samples: Justin Isenhour (Play Time); Peter Freeman, Jean-Jacques Herbin, and Ryan Tinker (Nap Time); Joshua Hauser (Rage Time). You can also hear my voice, sometimes digitally altered (Nap Time).
