Dream States (2020)

Instrumentation: Flute, Oboe, Bb Clarinet, Horn, & Bassoon

Difficulty: Advanced

Duration: 16’

Performance Materials (PDF format): $60.00

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I have always been deeply fascinated in the concept of dream as a subject of art. My favorite filmmaker is David Lynch, whose films replicate with almost frightening accuracy the non sequitur nature of dreams.

In this piece, written for the Vulpes Wind Quintet, I wanted to create four distinct “dream states” in each movement - some whimsical and silly, some dark and mysterious. Perhaps strangely, these movements do not depict specific dreams that I have had, but waking images I have vividly conjured. Each movement is firmly placed in its own distinct sound world quite different from the others.

The first movement, The sound of rain on asphalt gives way to a deep slumber, inhabits the otherworldly liminal stage between waking and sleeping. Extended techniques are used to depict the titular sound of rain before more corporeal sounds begin to take shape. What develops are fragments of melodies; thoughts that are transposed, trail off, and sometimes do not make much sense. Finally, the rain melts away into a warm chorale with each voice gradually adding in. This, at last, is the dream.

The second movement is entitled A fiddler in the desert plays for an audience of dancing sparrows, and it pays homage to the musical genre closest to my heart - bluegrass. This energetic movement imitates a fiddle tune, chopped up and put through a blender. It is a continuous variation of several motives, one of which is a brief quote from a fiddle tune composed by my dear friend Rebekah Rolland called Lion and the Fawn.

The third dream is much more textural in nature. As I composed it, I imagined myself at the bottom of a deep, clear pool in the middle of a moonlit forest completely still, with the tree roots wrapping themselves around me. Fittingly, it is entitled Those trees whose voices can be heard from beneath a moonlit pool. The structure is very simple - each instrument begins on the same F. Gradually, they diverge, like tree roots branching out under the earth. Eventually, an open sonority is reached with the overall range expanded to five octaves before slowly returning to the F that opened the movement.

The final movement is another lighthearted romp, the pool has been exited and a flurry of fireflies lights the way. This movement is built in two sections; the first is bouncy and mischievous with very leap-heavy gestures and fragments of melody passed between each instrument, and the second returns to a similar texture as the chorale from the first movement. The dream is at its end.

Audio below: The Vulpes Wind Quintet (Mvt. 1-3), MIDI Demo (Mvt. 4)