In Search of Fire (2019)
Instrumentation: Tpts (4), Horns (4), T-bones (3), B. T-bone, Euph, Tuba, Timp. Perc. (2),
Commissioned by Michael Scott Butler and the College and University Brass and Percussion Ensemble, Wisconsin Music Educators Association Conference 2019
Duration: 6 minutes
Program Note:
The cover image on the score, painted by Gwenessa Lam, is part of her collection entitled In Search of Fire. The collection includes paintings and drawings of house fire images that the artist found circulating on the internet. Although the images were of catastrophic events, they had been decoupled from their original context for use as relatively meaningless stock photos. In my interpretation, her artwork invites the viewer to contemplate the phenomenon of how emotionally charged images may eventually lose meaning as they are disseminated. Through her art, the abstract stock image is brought into focus, causing viewers to contemplate the event as if it had actually happened to them. I was inspired by the concept of In Search of Fire because I believe it is a powerful lens through which to contemplate our ever-changing relationship with the world and what it means to us. As a musician, I considered how, as music circulates, it can also lose its emotional content. The "Ode to Joy" theme from Beethoven's 9th gets used as a dull ringtone. Songs that were once big hits are used as wallpaper in the food store. So, in every new composition, there is a search for fire, so to speak...the hope for renewal of music's potential. I hope you can hear it in this piece.