Women in Christ’s Line, piano

Inspired by Sallie Clinton Poet’s prize-winning 1990 oil on canvas of the same name, this short piece, commissioned by the Mormon Artists group, attempts to portray symbolic glimses into the matriarchal personalities named in St. Matthew 1. Undulating rhythms and consonant pentatonic melodies symbolize their ancient feminine charm. Their challenges, sorrows and unexpected turns in their lives are represented with dynamic outbursts, crashing clusters and the dissonance of the left hand playing only white keys while the right hand plays only black keys. Insistent ostinati patterns and transitional passages suggest strength and perseverance.

Instrumentation
piano

Time
4′

Composition Year
2003

Publication Year
2003, 2004

Recording Information
2004, Grant Johannesen, pianist, Mormoniana by Mormon Artists Group Press on Tantara CD-2003;

7/2009 Deon Nielsen Price, piano; Orpharion Recordings-not a commercial release.

Performance Information
7/10/03 Premiere- South Bay Ceter for the Arts, Torrance, California; 11/16/03 Los Angeles Mu Phi Epsilon; 4/8/04 Palos Verdes Peninsula Mu Phi Epsilon; 6/20/04 In Praise of Music Series, La Canada; 2/20/05 Mu Phi Epsilon-Los Angeles; 6/5/05 Capilla Cardenas Panama City; California; 5/16/09 75th Birthday Celebration Culver City, California