Black Triage, by Galen H. Brown

Black Triage

by Galen H. Brown

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$6 USD or more

	1.	Black Triage I 09:26
	2.	Black Triage II 08:51
	3.	Black Triage III 07:35

about

I am writing these notes on April 10th, 2020, at my parents' house in New Hampshire, having evacuated from our home in New York City with my wife and our two cats the week before the COVID-19 pandemic got bad there. The stories and images I have heard and seen of my city and of the world are surreal and frightening; like so many of us, I grieve for our collective loss, fear for the future, and feel powerless to help other than by remaining isolated in order to avoid becoming a vector for futher spread, or a burden on the healthcare system myself.

In about 2005, I had the good fortune to observe a continuing medical education lecture at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center on triage during mass-casualty incidents. I was familiar with the concept of triage, generally, but not with how it is practiced, and I came away haunted by the black triage category, which includes not only the dead, but also those who can not be saved with the resources available. They may be beyond help entirely, they may not be able to survive long enough to be reached by the life-saving care they require, or treatments that might have saved them must be used on patients who are more likely to be saved by the limited resources available. If you have one ventilator, and two patients in respiratory failure, you give the ventilator to the patient who is more likely to be saved by it.

At around the same time, I began work on a piece for string orchestra, which I intended to entitle "Black Triage." I had no commission for it, so it remained a low priority, but every now and then I dug it out and worked on it. I think I finished the second movement sometime in the early 2010s. I started the third movement in about 2015, and finally finished it in 2018. It took 13 years to complete, but I think it's some of my best work. Given the title and the inspiration, I hope that it will never be more relevant than it is during our current global crisis.

Score available here: galenbrown.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Galen-H-Brown-Black-Triage-Full-Score.pdf

credits

released April 13, 2020

Composed, Recorded, and Produced by Galen H. Brown

license

about

Galen H. Brown New York

galenbrown.com

contact / help

Contact Galen H. Brown

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Galen H. Brown, you may also like:

8
by Michael Gordon & Cello Octet Amsterdam

supported by 4 fans who also own “Black Triage”

Anyone experiencing this live must've been the luckiest people on the planet that day. This is simply phenomenal. And hope to see more some day. Thanks Michael and COA for this crazy good production. DancingPlant
go to album
Himalaya
by Carl Stone

supported by 4 fans who also own “Black Triage”

Playful and fun! Charles Hutchins
go to album
Acquanetta
by Michael Gordon & Deborah Artman

supported by 4 fans who also own “Black Triage”
go to album
Always & Only the Lonely -- music from The Dorothy K
by Brian Lawlor and Zac Pennington

Soaring operatic pop written for the theater by Zac Pennington of Parenthetical Girls and composer Brian Lawlor. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 8, 2017
go to album
Consequential
by Samuel Sharp

The composer regularly blurs the lines between classical, jazz, and electronic music on his latest album. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 16, 2023
go to album
I the Storm
by Simon McCorry

Minimalist modern classical that captures the slowly unfolding beauty of post-rock groups like Rachel’s. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 23, 2023
go to album
Femenine
by Julius Eastman / Apartment House

supported by 4 fans who also own “Black Triage”

An absolutely stunning performance of this beautiful composition. Highly recommended! ledbehrend
go to album