To Starboard, Star-Bound

solo organ

The work takes place in an ambiguous dream world somewhere between undersea and outer space. The music is at times languid and watery, at others sharp and volcanic. A melody found glowing faintly out of the surrounding harmony at the beginning of the piece returns again and again until it is finally transformed into something magnificent by the end, and we are caught up in a sense of perpetual rising into the stars.

Commissioned and premiered by Clara Gerdes in Field Concert Hall, Curtis Institute of Music, Philadelphia, PA on December 13, 2017