ORCHESTRAL
RAPTURE
INSTRUMENTATION
3.3.3.3./4.3.3.1/Timp+3 Perc, Pno., Strings
Eight minutes
EXCERPTS
PROGRAM NOTE
In 2007 in a feat that went largely unnoticed an expedition of ultra-cavers reached the deepest point in the deepest cave on earth in Krubera in the Republic of Georgia. Considered the Mt. Everest of caving, this expedition to the bottom of Krubera was racing against a similar expedition in Mexico’s Cheve cave system both vying for title of world’s deepest cave. Explorers at each camp spent weeks at a time underground in deafening environments and often in absolute darkness. In the book Blind Descent that chronicles this historical accomplishment, author James Tabor touches on an experience all ultra-cavers undergo at some point in their career, a phenomenon known as “The Rapture.”
After weeks underground, absent from normal circadian rhythms, some climbers experience a near crippling onset of emotion, and a primal need to escape. The Rapture is described by climbers as exponentially worse than a panic attack and at times a near religious experience.
While this piece is neither about religion nor super caving, I wanted to capture a blueprint that I think is a universal human experience: the onset of extreme emotion. Similar to extreme emotional states, musical elements in this piece start almost insignificantly and are magnified to their extremes, echoing throughout.
SHADOW
DANCER
LISTEN
INSTRUMENTATION
3.3.3.3./4.3.3.1/Timp+3 Perc, Pno., Strings
or
2.2.2.2/2.2.2.1/Timp+2 Perc, Pno, Strings
or
originally for Sinfonietta
7 Minutes
EXCERPTS
PROGRAM NOTE
Shadow Dancer is a work for dancers and orchestra, minus the dancers.
In my early years of college one of my first jobs was to accompany modern dance classes. Frequently the professors would say “I don’t care what notes you play, just give us a beat…” and so I would, and I would try to throw off the dancers by stretching the tunes in odd manners over that beat. When I got the opportunity to write a work for Alarm Will Sound a group that can turn on a dime, I drew from this experience. I wrote Shadow Dancer a work inspired by the movement of a disembodied dancer. I thought about shadows and light, the tricks they play on us, and how these images could influence the form of the music. This piece starts small, growing to a tutti fortissimo. It runs through a gambit of light and dance inspired motives. It stops and restarts and dance often does. But most importantly for me, it is music inspired by movement.