Prospect

Prospect forms a kind of companion or loose sequel to Daybook. Like its predecessor, Prospect seeks a kind of accommodation with the art and writing of Anne Truitt. Not in the sense of musical counterpart nor mere illustration, however; more an engagement with similar themes. Both works, too, resemble a classical symphony, with four movements including an opening in vague sonata form followed by a scherzo, slow movement, and finale; yet neither develop material in any recognizably symphonic fashion.

Instead, as with Daybook, Prospect explores the different kinds of music that can be made from the hidden systems, cycles, and processes underlying most of my work. The opening and closing movements tease out the cinematic possibilities of these structures, acknowledging an equal debt to Michael Nyman and John Williams, masters both. The inner movements are more explicit homages: the second dedicated to Bang on a Can composers Michael Gordon, David Lang, and Julia Wolfe, and the third to Lou Harrison and Alan Hovhaness.

Scored for string orchestra with piano, timpani, and a trio of trumpets, Prospect was composed in February of 2019 and lasts about eighteen minutes.