Anna Rubin
for flute and percussion
ca. 9'07"
hag riding (2013) for flute and three percussionists was originally composed for the Umbilicus Quartet, a percussion quartet. It is based on two poems by Lucille Clifton, the late and highly honored poet, who spent part of her career in Maryland. Her fierce art is captured with precision in these works. The poem “hag riding” celebrates a woman’s joyous power. The second poem, “auction street,” evokes the horror of slave auctions, the auction block and “thousands of fathers and mothers led in a coffle to the block.” Complex polyrhythms are a feature of the work. I am grateful to Tom Goldstein for his encouragement and pleasurable hours spent exploring the extensive resources of Umbilicus.
Umbilicus Percussion Quartet premiered the original version of the piece at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC) Livewire Festival 4, 2013, and played it at The Parlor (Baltimore), also in 2013 and again in 2018 at the Livewire Festival 9 at UMBC.
Click here to view the score for percussion and flute.
Click here to view the score and listen to a recording that is for percussion only.