SCORES

I was commissioned to compose a song cycle for soprano, strings, and percussion by The Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra in August of 2024. Being asked to write a song cycle is a bit complicated for it is difficult to go out and find text that fits the task. Length alone proves to be an obstacle. I did my usual Chicago bookstore rummage and came across the work of Marianne Moore. Much of the text met my criteria for musical setting. I narrowed it down to a couple poems and finally decided to begin with The Paper Nautilus because it continued to lend itself well to musical depiction. Once I began to set the text it became clear that this wasn’t going to be a song cycle. I was finding it difficult to audiate imaginatively in the style of that genre with the specific instrumentation mandated for the commission. I was too concerned, or hung up, with how the orchestra was sounding and what the orchestra was doing and why. The result is one continuous piece of music that features an orchestra and a vocalist working in tandem as one sonic storyteller. The inception of The Paper Nautilus was quite challenging but as the work progressed it came together nicely.

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