American Pastoral

1. Route 46

2. Echoes of Silence

3. Outlaw Bluegrass

4. Nocturne in Blue and Silver

5. 24/7

“American Pastoral is a suite of five musical landscapes for violin and guitar. The piece gets its title from Philip Roth’s novel of the same name, which is set in New Jersey during the social upheavals of the 1960s and early 1970s. The American Dream is not all it seems.

The opening movement is a road trip through the geography of Roth’s novel – Route 46 dissects Morris County, NJ. In contrast, Echoes of Silence evokes the breath-taking wilderness of Monument Valley in Utah, where cathedral-like monolithic sandstone formations tower above the red dessert. The car chase sequence in the 1967 film Bonnie and Clyde was the starting point for Outlaw Bluegrass, while Nocturne in Blue and Silver suggests a smoke filled Manhattan jazz club in the small hours. American Pastoral concludes with 24/7 – a cruise down the strip in Las Vegas”