Meditation on Dust

piano and string orchestra (2015)

Meditation on Dust

The String Orchestra of Brooklyn
Karl Larson, piano

What would happen if a Richard Strauss tone poem was left out in the desert for 1000 years? This was the central questioning metaphor I had in mind when writing. What I imagine left is a kind of harmonic dust. Meditation on Dust is a dream landscape shaped by these harmonic particles. The piano, which in many ways acts as a hyper-violin, cuts through the dust and sometimes is enveloped within it. As the dream evolves we come back to the original Strauss moment but soon depart from it. 

Reviews from the New York Times and I Care if You Listen.

World Premiere

The String Orchestra of Brooklyn
Eli Spindel, conducting
Karl Larson, piano
Recorded live Thursday, June 25, 2015
Roulette; Brooklyn, New York