the color of where you can never go (2022)
for voice and piano [12:30]

the color of where you can never go is a song cycle built on a prose text, entirely excerpted from the second chapter of Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost. A single argument from this astonishing work of meandering, poetic non-fiction is distilled into seven songs, each given a one-word title from the text. Just as Solnit focuses on a dedicated sliver of the spectrum, carefully exploring its tints and associations, my musical setting inhabits a limited world of possible sounds: timbres and dynamics are mostly muted, the vocal register is restrained, as is the palette of pianistic gestures. A recurrent sensation of slowing and distancing is veiled with lush and resonant harmonies. The challenge for interpreters is to flourish within these constraints, to delve into the expressive nuances of a limited range of color, illuminating many subtle, distinct shades…