Unanticipated Impressions
Movement 2: The Unlikely Beauty of Pigeons in Flight
Writing "Unanticipated Impressions" began with my decision to structure the composition on the basis of a single experience. As it happened, I was inspired enough to write about two, seemingly unrelated experiences. The first movement - "Happiness is Impersonal" - attempts to articulate in music, the state of grace that accompanies a sensation of happiness, unbidden and independent of circumstance. The second movement - "The Unlikely Beauty of Pigeons in Flight" - tries to illustrate the natural choreography, both graceful and ungainly of our urban cohabitants. I have discovered that attentively observing the mundane can reveal a hidden beauty that can lead to unanticipated happiness in the observer...
Appropriately enough, perhaps in reference to the origin of the philosophy behind movement one and the organism behind movement two, the harmonic content of the piece is derived from a non-western mode. Chords and melodies evolved naturally enough with mutation and selective crosspollination from this introduced mode into the music of "Unanticipated Impressions".
Thanks to Deb and the Presidio Ensemble for being so damn fine and to Aram and Nicole for the good sports that they are. Special thanks Nathalie Senécal for all her support and to Mills for financial support. And to Alvin Curran for being a mensch and having some great advice. And the pigeons - of course.