GENTLE GIANT (2020)

INSTRUMENTATION

Solo Double Bass

DURATION

5 minutes

PROGRAM NOTE

Knowing my brother is to love my brother. He was a gentle giant; he didn’t hurt anybody.
–Philonise Floyd, May 26, 2020

We must fight even in a moment in which we have a failed social experiment. We must be critical of ourselves in terms of keeping alive the highest moral and spiritual standards of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Fannie Lou Hamer and Ella Baker, and you see that work in the souls of brother George Floyd’s family.
–Dr. Cornel West, June 1, 2020

Gentle Giant (2020) for Solo Double Bass is a musical offering in memory of George Floyd, one of countless lives stolen on the endless journey towards justice. Written for soloist Ranaan Meyer as part of the Los Angeles Film Conducting Intensive’s 2020 New Music Project, the composition is intended as a lyrical celebration of life, even at a time of great moral crisis.

Rooted in a lyrically warm, folk-like melody, the composition is bookended by five plaintive tones, each pitch corresponding to the letters of George’s name: G, E, O (do/C), R (re/D), G, and E.

–Jules Pegram (2020)