Program Notes
Finding a text to set is usually both exciting and frustrating at the same time. Issues with length and subject matter can often eliminate an otherwise suitable text from consideration. But in this case, Tomorrow’s Work Undone was a deeply rewarding collaboration between myself and the author Paul Duggan. The text is deep, has excellent imagery, and is full of drama. The poem is in two sections but the two parts form a single, continuous arc, as does the music.
The first poem follows Anna, the main character, through a dream sequence. The imagery is intense and personal, but for me, indicative of a deeper, spiritual meaning. The music is intended to create a somewhat melancholic atmosphere that is ever so slightly tinged with hope. The emotionally charged dream sequence is brought to life with sharp syncopations and aggressive ostinato figures. The dream passes and the slower, more somber music returns. But like the text, the music ends with a rising, questioning hope.
The second poem, “On a Day after Tomorrow” left me with an image of serenity—as if the frenetic dream is a distant memory. The music is melodic, sweet, and optimistic, but then emboldened by the confidence of the narrator: “Stand again…Lift up again…Sprout again…Rise again.” The piano blossoms and bursts forth with triumphant support for the voice and the resounding text, but eventually fades away in a cloud of serenely repeating chords, in complete peace, “risen again.”