everywhere, the impossible is happening (2018)

General Information

Commissioner: Composed for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Nancy and Barry Sanders Composer Fellowship Program
Written: January – May, 2018
Duration: ca. 9.5’
Instrumentation: 1/pic 1/eh 1/bcl 1 - 1 1 1 0 - perc - pf - str [2 1 1 1]

Performance History

June 2, 2018: Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra at BP Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Los Angeles, CA (World Premiere)

Perusal Score

~ This score below is intended for perusal purposes only, and may not be used for performance. To obtain performance materials, please click here. Thank you! ~

Program Note

"everywhere, the impossible is happening:
two things, the rain and the landscape,
are occupying the same space at the same time."
-Donald Windham

I first encountered the above text while listening to Ned Rorem's song cycle "Poems of Love and the Rain”; this fragment serves as the text for both the first and last song of the cycle. While concurrently reading William Faulkner's As I Lay Dying, in which a storm serves as a metaphor for the progressive worsening of fate for the main characters, I was struck by the simplicity and beauty of this quote, originally found in a short story from a 1960's issue of The New Yorker.

When asked to write a sinfonietta inspired by a piece of literature, I was immediately drawn back to this text, as it had stuck with me since my first encounter with it. As soon as I started sketching a piece, the idea of contrast but also simultaneity of 'rain' and 'landscape' began to appear. In this piece, the 'rain' is represented by rapid motion, while the 'landscape' is characterized by relatively static gestures. The piece explores, in five sections (landscape i, rain i, landscape ii, rain ii, fusion), the contrast between movement and stillness within a general narrative arc of a storm. I do not intend this piece to be programmatic in any sense, though, but rather a meditation on the themes presented in Windham's fantastically rich quote.

I am extremely grateful to Andrew Norman, Sarah Gibson, Loribeth Gregory, Sarah Little, and the musicians of the Kaleidoscope Chamber Orchestra for all of the time, energy, and faith they have placed in me and this piece. It has been such an honor to work with all of these amazing people, and this piece is dedicated to them.