Program Notes

"Breathing Sunlight" was inspired by a melody that started winding into my mind in 2015. When I began learning the Hindustani Raga Bhimpalasi a year later, I realized that it virtually matched the contour of this melody, in pitch as well as in mood. In this piece, finally, the melody found its place. However, I do not state the melody outright. Rather, I watch it oscillate somewhere in the background, beyond the conscious mind of the piece. It approaches the surface and recedes, in one line or through bubbling polyphony.

“Breathing Sunlight” is about moments spent with those who will leave us soon. Simple things, like lying on the grass, in the sun, breathing — these moments of conscious stillness, within a mind racked by mental and physical discomfort — are as significant as they are fleeting. The love we feel in those moments is strong, transcending our physical boundaries.

This work was created under the aegis of the Gabriela Lena Frank Creative Academy of Music.