Flying at Night
Scroll down to hear Lux Choir’s recording of the piece.
The beginnings of this piece came to me late at night, while unable to sleep in the midst of a bout of writers’ block. As I stared out my window, I was struck by the beauty of the night sky, and felt the seeds of a new piece of music being planted. I began searching for texts on night-themes that embodied the wonder and beauty I felt in that moment, and came across Ted Kooser’s Flying at Night.
As I read through the text, ideas immediately flew into my head, and I got to work right away. While some music is motivated by melodic content, this piece instead relies on the various harmonies & textures to communicate the wonder and sense of smallness when looking out at an infinitely spacious, luminous night sky. The very first chords, which set in my mind the key of the piece, are inspired by another piece with similar aims—these chords take their origin from the chords created by the wine glasses in Ēriks Ešenvalds’ piece, Stars.
Scroll down to hear Lux Choir’s recording of the piece.
The beginnings of this piece came to me late at night, while unable to sleep in the midst of a bout of writers’ block. As I stared out my window, I was struck by the beauty of the night sky, and felt the seeds of a new piece of music being planted. I began searching for texts on night-themes that embodied the wonder and beauty I felt in that moment, and came across Ted Kooser’s Flying at Night.
As I read through the text, ideas immediately flew into my head, and I got to work right away. While some music is motivated by melodic content, this piece instead relies on the various harmonies & textures to communicate the wonder and sense of smallness when looking out at an infinitely spacious, luminous night sky. The very first chords, which set in my mind the key of the piece, are inspired by another piece with similar aims—these chords take their origin from the chords created by the wine glasses in Ēriks Ešenvalds’ piece, Stars.
Scroll down to hear Lux Choir’s recording of the piece.
The beginnings of this piece came to me late at night, while unable to sleep in the midst of a bout of writers’ block. As I stared out my window, I was struck by the beauty of the night sky, and felt the seeds of a new piece of music being planted. I began searching for texts on night-themes that embodied the wonder and beauty I felt in that moment, and came across Ted Kooser’s Flying at Night.
As I read through the text, ideas immediately flew into my head, and I got to work right away. While some music is motivated by melodic content, this piece instead relies on the various harmonies & textures to communicate the wonder and sense of smallness when looking out at an infinitely spacious, luminous night sky. The very first chords, which set in my mind the key of the piece, are inspired by another piece with similar aims—these chords take their origin from the chords created by the wine glasses in Ēriks Ešenvalds’ piece, Stars.