PROGRAM NOTES

Yielding to Tranquility distills a summer-evening moment in the composer’s native New England.

Melodic lines intertwine in counterpoint like an unhurried summer breeze among gently swaying trees. Colorful flourishes flutter between bright chords and gestures, evoking birds amid sunset’s vivid hues. String harmonics linger as their dusk chorus suspends the moment before yielding to night’s tranquility.

Yielding to Tranquility invites listeners to contemplate the fragile beauty of the natural world in hopes of inspiring support for environmental preservation.

The Boston New Music Initiative commissioned Yielding to Tranquility from composer Martin Hebel as a winner of the “New England Legacies: The Boston Six Reimagined” Commissioning Prize which commemorates the work of the Second New England School of composers by soliciting musical responses to their work. Yielding to Tranquility responds to Amy Beach’s Piano Trio, Op. 150, chosen from among the work of the Boston Six: Amy Beach, George Whitefield Chadwick, Arthur Foote, Edward MacDowell, John Knowles Paine, and Horatio Parker.

1.5 minutes | Piano Trio | 2026