Nocturne from River Rising by Kirsten Volness

Madison Cawein’s evocative poem Nocturne serves as the jumping off point for my piece of the same name. Through the form of a fantasy, I explore various meanings of “night music”— at times evoking vibrant nightlife, at others the oscillation of long, slow breathing, moving in and out of consciousness and dreaming. I recorded many of the sound sources in the electronic part sitting at the Baldwin Acrosonic that my parents bought from a bar in 1969, from the birds at the window feeder to the less-than-perfect piano I've fallen asleep on numerous occasions throughout my life. I also utilized sounds produced by various objects that happened to be lying nearby, like the game Bananagrams. Special thanks to Josh Lantzy for allowing me to sample his homemade glass marimba.

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