Dana Lyn - A Point On A Slow Curve (CD)

Release Date: 02/18/22

Violinist-composer Dana Lyn presents A Point on a Slow Curve; a tone poem for chamber ensemble & choir inspired by Jay DeFeo's painting The Rose.

Dana Lyn draws on her varied experiences as a collaborator, composer and multi-instrumentalist to create A Point on a Slow Curve, a tone poem in nine movements, scored for a mixed ensemble (violin, cello, clarinet, bassoon, vibraphone, bass and drums) and female choir. The inspiration for this album is the creation story of Jay DeFeo's painting The Rose, a 12.7 x 8 foot, one foot-thick mixed-media monument that weighs over a ton. DeFeo (1929-89) focused solely on this piece for eight years, until she could no longer afford her monthly rent and was evicted. Due to its size and weight, The Rose had to be forklifted out of DeFeo's apartment; it languished in the basement of the San Francisco Institute of Art for over 25 years. In 1995, six years after DeFeo's death, The Rose was bought and restored by the Whitney Museum; it is now regarded as a seminal work of contemporary art.

In a sense, A Point on a Slow Curve is Lyn's version of The Rose. She wrote a sketch of Movement VIII, entitled 'The Rose', in 2013, after having seen the DeFeo retrospective at the Whitney Museum earlier that year. Lyn, also a visual artist, was fascinated by DeFeo's work and that of the 1950's and 60's Bay Area art scene of which she was a part. More music followed, including 'The Removal', which conjures scenes and emotions from the day that the painting is removed from DeFeo's apartment, and 'Welcome to Painterland', named for the apartment building in which DeFeo and five other artists lived. And almost as if to mirror the creation story itself, most of the music A Point on a Slow Curve was recorded, re-orchestrated, re-recorded and re-orchestrated. In 2018, Lyn decided to add a small choir to the mix and composed text. What started out as a single piece for string trio eight years ago has become a nine-movement work for septet and choir.