…the leaves scatter like foam…
Instrumentation: Wind Ensemble
Duration: 9’
Premiere: The University of Michigan Symphony Band on April 3, 2022 in Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, MI. Michael Haithcock, conductor.
Program Note: “the leaves scatter like foam” is a phrase penned by the poet Mark Strand in his significant work, Dark Harbor. I ran across it while flipping through an anthology of modern poetry, hungry to find a string of words that would bring meaning to the music I had written, as a flashlight’s beam brings brilliance to the shadows. I came to associate the piece and the line of poetry together, arriving at a sense of meaning in the following collection of ideas:
Delicate, aimless flitting; butterfly-like
Gleams of brilliance, some bashful, others pronounced
Profound beauty packaged in fleeting moments
Contending with impermanence
Thank you to my friend Alizabeth Nowland, who located that random line of poetry after I was convinced I would never find it again.