The Path World Premiere, Berklee, Boston, March 5, 2025
Richard Carrick’s The Path (2025)
Web, May14, 8:00 p.m.
Mise-En Place
45 St Nicholas Avenue, New York, NY 10026
Either/Or
Richard Carrick, piano
Jennifer Choi, violin
Jeremy Harman, cello
Justin Jay Hines, drums/percussion
Mario Salvador, tres Cubano
The Path is a multi-movement, concert length work for piano, tres cubano, violin, cello and drums/percussion. The title The Path is a reference to the opening line of Dante’s Inferno. He introduces the protagonist who states “I lost the path that does not stray.” Originally conceived as a set of lead sheets for violin and piano, the instrumentation evolved to a quintet which encouraged writing out arranged and structured compositions for the longer movements, thereby positioning this piece between the different worlds of lead sheet and notated composition.
There are many paths one can take, even if the path does not stray. The quintet sets out on a journey with the audience, between large structured compositions and solo/duo improvised threads that weave them together.
The Path (2025) is Carrick's final trilogy of concert length quintets based on music of Maghreb, including The Atlas for piano and string quartet (2023), and L’Algérie for piano, oud, violin, cello and percussion (2024). Either/Or has premiered all three of these works, and recorded the first two.