About the piece

Memory is fallible, imprecise and changeable. Each time we draw a memory to the fore of our mind we re-remember it, changing details and forgetting others. Memories can be fabricated from photographs, and stories create memories of memories we have forgotten. Epigenetics posits that experiences can change the way our DNA expresses itself, affecting generations. If our family’s past is forgotten and severed, can the connection ever be recovered? My ancestors fled the Russian Empire during the 19th century. Immigrants, refugees, and fugitives, they changed their names like people change clothes: to hide, to blend in, and to forget. This piece reflects on these ideas, and on family, loss, and how, even in the absence of memories, we imagine who we are.

Listen

Suzanne Duffy, flute; Kacey Link, piano

Instrumentation

flute and piano

Duration

5 minutes 30 seconds

year written

2020

commissioned by

Kacey Link and Suzanne Duffy

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