FOUND

FOUND

Instrumentation: orchestra (3, 3, 3, 2 - 4, 3, 3, 1 - timpani, 3 percussion - solo string quartet + full string section)

Duration: 10 minutes

Composed: 2011

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Found is the fifth movement of my piano suite, A SINGLE NOON. It's the Central Park of the suite - an oasis amidst the dizzying pace of the city, where time almost stands still. There's a feeling of contentment; of fulfillment. Of belonging.

Even as I composed Found for the piano, I wrote it with the orchestra in mind - the slow sustained chords and floating melodies seemed to call for the resonance of strings and winds and brass - and I've been itching to hear this orchestral version of the piece (it's never been performed).

Here's a performance of the original version.

Mouthful of Forevers

Mouthful of Forevers

Instrumentation: string orchestra

Duration: 14 minutes

Composed: 2017

Commissioned by: Town Hall Seattle

Premiere: June 21, 2017 by the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Joshua Roman at Town Hall Seattle

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"Mouthful of Forevers" is an exquisite/heartbreaking/perfect poem by Clementine Von Radics that slays me every time I read it. I wanted - needed, really - to respond musically to those words that make me feel so much.

The poem is a paean to a love that "came when we'd given up on asking love to come." Von Radics beautifully captures the vulnerability that comes from opening up to someone, and what it is that binds two people together: "I will kiss you like forgiveness. You will hold me like I'm hope... And I will not be afraid of your scars." To me, there is no more perfect expression of love.

I was thrilled and honored when Joshua Roman asked me to compose this piece for the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra to premiere at Town Hall Seattle, and I hope the music evokes the exuberance, fragility, and the deep, beautiful sigh of contentment embedded in Clementine's extraordinary poem.