After 3 Stanzas by Esther Belin
About this work
“…formless form…”
“…burst…”
“…essence…”
Some believe that when the Wind formed us, it etched our being, our essence, into the tips of our fingers. That essence, that sense of self, can be strangled by invasive roots; formless forms that hold our minds captive.
When roots are exposed, a plant cannot survive.
When a disordered idea, for example, a feeling of subjugation, is exposed, it cannot hold our minds.
It is the burst of dawn in my small canyon off Route 66 that separates two mountain ranges. I stand outside; my sandaled feet mirror the canyons in the blood-red soil of the earth. I breathe the fresh mountain air and listen to nature awaken. Far away, I hear someone (a family member, likely) awaken and speak; a smattering medley of words in English and mountain Spanish; morning invocations to Heaven. In this moment, I contemplate the tips of my fingers and rediscover my sense of self.
“…stillness to action.”
-JMA
Duration
ca. 18′
Instrumentation
Horn in F and Piano
Score
Premiere
November 15, 2017
The George Peabody Library
Baltimore, Maryland
Sam Bessen, horn