Program Note:  

In 2011, the Curtis Institute commissioned a trio for clarinet, viola, and piano for the touring group called Curtis on Tour. I responded with Book of Days, a suite of musical memories of my student days at Curtis. I finished the first movement on a Monday, so I wrote Monday atop the manuscript just to hold the spot. That got me to thinking about the Babylonians, and how they named the days after the planets that they could see, and I thought that looking back into the past is a lot like looking out into space. Then I released myself from the burden of naming those feelings, both beautiful and stark, and simply named the movements after days of the week. Once all seven were done, I supplied a program note brimming with anecdotes and ideas that I thought were important at the time but which, a decade later, I realize were just feckless attempts to frame in words feelings that I had shared more meaningfully with music. So, I have dispensed with all of the words, and once again feel free; free this time to forget. I am content knowing that the Music will, as it always has, do the remembering for us all.