for chamber winds and choir
[flute, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano sax, alto sax, tenor sax, bari sax, horn, 3 trombones, euphonium, tuba, percussion, and SATB choir]
duration: 8′
Commissioned by the University of Tennessee at Martin for their 2017 Contemporary Music Festival

Program Notes
“There” from Supernatural Songs William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

There all the barrel-hoops are knit,
There all the serpent-tails are bit,
There all the gyres converge in one,
There all the planets drop in the Sun.

Through images of barrel hoops, the ouroboros (the ancient symbol of a serpent eating its own tail), whirlpools of water, the planets, and, perhaps most importantly, the sun, Yeats expresses the circular and eternal. There sets Yeats’ short, introspective poem in a similarly cyclical nature: the music constantly rotates around itself and eventually returns to the place where it began.

This piece was commissioned by the University of Tennessee at Martin for their 2017 Contemporary Music Festival. Thank you to the UTM Music Department for making this piece possible.