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Most of us -- if we’re lucky -- chug along more or less contentedly in an uneventful day-by-day routine . . a little like the opening of a recent chamber work by the American composer John Howell Morrison.
But sometimes, in some lives, something happens that suddenly disrupts the uneventful, comfortable routine, something that knocks all routine and normality straight out of the ballpark: perhaps it's the loss of a job, or the loss of a loved one, and suddenly routine physical or mental health is so shaken that the soundtrack of life shifts to something uncomfortably similar to that of a bad horror film.
Most of us -- if we're lucky -- somehow survive, and are perhaps even grow a bit stronger from the experience.
As the old saying goes: "Hard Weather Makes Good Wood" -- and that's the title Morrison gave his piece, scored for string quartet and electronic tape, recorded in 2002 as the title track on an innova CD collection of his chamber works.
And, yes, Morrison confesses that "Hard Weather Makes Good Wood" was, in fact, composed during a period of intense personal struggle in his own life.
We're not sure if he feels stronger for surviving that experience, but at least it resulted in striking new piece of chamber music.
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