Opus 120
Five (2005)
for Voice and Piano
Text by Mattias Vanderwerf (at age 5)
Text by Mattias Vanderwerf (at age 5)
Duration: 3 min.
Recording: Albany TROY1353-54
Premiere: (recording session)
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The violinist Paul Vanderwerf has been instrumental (no pun intended) in the performance and recording of my string chamber music. He and his wife Sarah have two children, and the older one is Mattias. Apparently one day, when he was five years old, mom and dad were out, he was in the care of a baby-sitter, and he made up a song—about the state of BEING five years old—too old for this, not old ENOUGH for that—at odds with life, either way. The baby-sitter managed to get the words of the song written down, and proud Papa sent them via e-mail to all his friends. Getting words but not music meant I was not going to engage with a five-year old in an unfair musical competition, so I was “in the clear”, and Five is the result. (Notes by Arnold Rosner)