$80
Duration: ca. 8 min.
Instrumentation: 5 soprano voices, 4 alto voices, eggshaker, woodblock (Note: this piece also calls for extensive use of body percussion)
Commission/dedication: This work is made possible through a partnership between the Chicago-based organization, Hearing in Color, and virtuosic women' s vocal ensemble, La Caccina, as part of the second annual Hearing in Color Young Composer Residency in 2022. Written for and commissioned by Hearing in Color/ La Caccina. Premiered by La Caccina on November 12th & 13th for their 2022-23 season concert, " Extraordinary Machine".
Program Notes:
"All Things Sublime and Colossal first came to me as a melody (the same one that appears at rehearsal letter "I") before I knew what the essence of the work would be. After humming it into a voice memo and labeling it "La Caccina" (the group I hoped to be writing it for), I put it to the side and prepared for a vacation to the Maldives with the love of my life.
I received the offer to accept the position as Hearing in Color/La Caccina's 2022-23 composer-in-residence while I away on vacation, and quickly that sublime melody I had saved a week or so ago found meaning and birthed even more ideas that were all influenced by the environment around me. As much as I love being a Chicago resident, if you get too caught upin the "industrial" life, it's easy to lose touch with nature—this was impossible in the Maldives. Each day I was surrounded by the Indian Ocean, welcomed by the sun, and accompanied by the gentle music the ocean breeze makes as it rustles the tree leaves. I was in the constant prescence of some of the world's most exotic sea and land animals that I had ever seen, and the views were to die for. I was paticularly taken by how calming it was to stare out into the ocean (especially at night) and look into the clouds as they formed what seemed to be worlds of their own. Each day I was in awe, entranced by the beauty of the world around me that I always knew existed but somehow managed to ignore in the mix of all the ambitions I have for my life. I hadn't given myself a chance to step back and realize how small I was, to realize that there were sublime and colossal things in front of me deserving of my admiration. Each day was a captivating reminder of this idea.
Now I knew what the piece was about.
Most of the ideas I hummed or sung into voice memos on my phone made it's way here, andthey are all inspired by what I saw and especially the way it made me feel. All Things Sublime and Colossal is about just that. It's about the great sense of awe and smallness one may feel about their place in the great expanse that is the world. It's about how the world is much more colossal than us (as we tend to think of ourselves as the "main character" in our own sories); how nature will always win despite how much we humans may try to "conquer" it; how we are but a mere spec in a vast universe; and how life feels when we take the time to appreciate the beauty of the unknown, the powerful, the sublime, the colossal."
I wrote the following text for this work:
The ocean and worlds of clouds,
I'm in awe! I feel small.
The wind hugs the trees in song,
I feel small. I'm in awe.
The sun stirs the Earth to wake,
How did I let that by?
In a world so unknown,
this is what I call home.
Vast in scope and beyond me,
I see you. I feel you.
So sublime, colossal.
Now I see.
*NOTE ABOUT THE PREMIERE RECORDING ABOVE:*
The ending around The video cuts at around m.226 has since changed, with the addition of slightly more measures/music. The video cuts around that point and fades back in around m.248. Also, due to limited rehearsal time/schedule, most of the body perc. (and the woodblock part) was not performed. To this day, the piece has yet to be premiered in its "fully realized" version!
Press: