Sylvan Dawn

[vkioulaphides]

Dear mandolin friends around the world,

exactly two years ago, with New York City the epicenter of the pandemic in the US, I did what seemed to be the only reasonable thing to do at that moment: packed the family (cat included) and some basic provisions in a van and drove out to our country home in the mountains of Pennsylvania, where we intended to wait out the calamity. The middle of nowhere never felt better.

The sheer delight of rustic living that we didn't intend but simply came upon was the joyous pandemonium of birds: bluejays, finches, woodpeckers, the entire forest abuzz with their merry noisemaking. I found myself hearing Beethoven's Pastorale in my head... Next thing I knew, I had picked up my mandolin and composed a little distillation of a myriad bird-calls, framed in the gestures of the great Classical Era.

That was the birth of my Sylvan Dawn, a short piece for unaccompanied mandolin. Alas, I am no ornithologist to tell you which birds are reflected in the various rhythms and melodies I wrote— other than the all too obvious woodpecker. I just recall this little piece with extraordinary fondness, a recollection of some of the happiest of times amidst the most horrible of times.

The score is yours for the asking. My email is self-explanatory, username same as here (vkioulaphides), only at Gmail. A quick message via the Café and I will happily zap you the score as a PDF.

Warmest regards to you all,

Victor