Desert Collection

Program Note

Too often, we tend to view things from a singular perspective, convincing ourselves that this one perspective is the only truth. In 2023, I briefly returned to Arizona, the state where I spent much of my childhood, and for the most part, I was dreading my return. I always viewed Arizona as a desolate landscape devoid of any life, everything moving at a slow pace through the intense and sickening heat. However, I surprised myself and instead found that the mountains and cacti that I had taken for granted growing up were beautiful and majestic in their own way. My perspective of what is beautiful in nature had shifted, and I grew to appreciate where I grew up in a different way. The composition "Desert Collection" captures the nature of this shift, taking a series of motifs that are born in a desolate musical landscape and gradually transforming them into a moment of triumph. The motifs remain largely the same, but the context they're in changes everything about how we experience them.

​

Sections

I. Open Space

II. Fleeting Images

III. Plateau

IV. Descent

Note: All sections are to be played attacca

​

Duration

10'​

​

Recorded as part of the Butler University Symphony Orchestra's 2024 Student Composer Readings