Infinite Horizon
for mixed choir (SATB) unaccompanied
words by John Gould Fletcher (1886-1950)
Winner, Capital Hearings Young Composers Competition, 2021
Winner, Red Note New Music Festival, Choral category
Difficulty: Medium-Advanced
Order copies for your choir here
The words to "Infinite Horizon" come from the end of a cycle of poems, immediately after a storm and a possible shipwreck. In one reading, this excerpt is a simple celebration of the calm after a storm; in another, the speaker might be stranded. (The latter is hinted at by the becalmed, unmoving ships in the distance, the cyclical passing of the days, and the broken dreams of distant islands.)
As North America slowly emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, I related to both readings: the restlessness that can accompany involuntary idleness and the hope in an unseen, unknowable future (represented by the dreamed-of islands) as well as the simple sense of renewal and contentment after a storm. This whole spectrum of emotions came out (and was hopefully reconciled) in the music.
Winner, Red Note New Music Festival, Choral category
Difficulty: Medium-Advanced
Order copies for your choir here
The words to "Infinite Horizon" come from the end of a cycle of poems, immediately after a storm and a possible shipwreck. In one reading, this excerpt is a simple celebration of the calm after a storm; in another, the speaker might be stranded. (The latter is hinted at by the becalmed, unmoving ships in the distance, the cyclical passing of the days, and the broken dreams of distant islands.)
As North America slowly emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, I related to both readings: the restlessness that can accompany involuntary idleness and the hope in an unseen, unknowable future (represented by the dreamed-of islands) as well as the simple sense of renewal and contentment after a storm. This whole spectrum of emotions came out (and was hopefully reconciled) in the music.