Wake

for orchestra [2.2.2.2. 4.3.3.1]

duration: c. 8' 00"

about:

Wake (n.) A trail of disturbed water.

    This piece was partially inspired by Amy Hempel’s short story “In a Tub”, which follows a woman who had recently suffered a personal trauma, resulting in a loss of self. The story begins with the line “My heart-I thought it stopped”. The narrator spends the rest of the story searching for her heartbeat, which she uses as a symbol of her humanity. Eventually she finds it when she is submerged in a tub, after she had waited “for the ripples to smooth away”, and listened for “the playfulness of [her] heart.”

Wake (v.)  To emerge from a state of sleep. 

While this piece occurs in the wake of a traumatic event, the overwhelming focus is on using inner momentum to awaken from a slumber of desolation and return to a place of joy. It is ultimately about finding life amidst death, and while not ignoring dark echoes, overcoming them, to reach a place where the heartbeat can clearly be heard among the sounds of renewed vitality.