A Forest That Is A Desert

Description

Audio

Video

Duration

11 min.

Instrumentation

SATB choir

Text

Kendra Preston Leonard

Songs

I. In the Stony Mountains
II. Shadow Reel to Last Breath
III. Hospice

Program Notes

A Forest that is a Desert was commissioned by Choral Arts Initiative for the 2019 PREMIERE |Project Festival. The work sets three texts written by Kendra Preston Leonards specifically for this composition. When I first received the CAI commission, I looked through a number of Kendra’s texts and was drawn to her lovely work “My mother is a poem by Yeats,” which expresses the profound grief of watching a loved one succumb to dementia. Full of ideas, I texted to ask if she would be open tome setting it. She was thrilled – but another composer already had secured the rights to set the poem! I resigned myself to choosing another text, but couldn’t get the first poem in my head enough to find something that resonated strongly. After some brainstorming, Kendra generously agreed to write a companion text exploring similar themes. Within a couple of days, she sent three new poems written in memory of her mother, hoping that one might be a good fit. I loved all three and was particularly drawn to them as a set. The resulting work, A Forest that is a Desert, uses traditional choral writing, coloristic vocal effects, and indeterminacy to bring to life Kendra’s evocative words. The music is intended to reflect the mental effects of dementia on those who suffer from it and also express the complex emotions felt by loved ones watching that decline