Morning Greeting: version for ensemble (2022)
0.1.1.1-1.0.0.0-piano-1.1.1.1.1 | 4'
Morning Greeting is a short work for orchestra that began its life about twelve years ago as a piece for solo piano. In composing the original piano version of the work, I had been inspired by a "missed connection" (like those found in Craigslist) that occurred on transit; the piece was aptly titled Girl on the Bus. You can hear how the piece moves from sprightly, hopeful gestures at the beginning—suggesting a budding romance—to, by the end, reminiscent and distant music; in doing this, I strove to capture the sense that not only would nothing come of the romantic connection, but, as many of us who live in cities experience every day, I would likely never see this person, or indeed any of the other people on that bus, again.
This realization—that every day we encounter others for, most likely, the only time in the history of the universe, was striking to me. When the opportunity came to compose a work for this session, I was consequently drawn back to this piece. During the twelve years that had passed between the original composition of the piece and now, I had decided that the ideas in the piece were better accessed through a more general theme of loss of innocence, and consequently changed the title to Morning Greeting. Like each day, the piece begins with bright and youthful themes, but eventually transitions to a darker and more experienced world. This change from innocence to experience represents both the transition from childhood to adulthood and my experience through the progression of a day—morning being a time when possibilities seem virtually endless, and the evening becoming a time for reflection and, more often than I would like, regret.