Augusta Read Thomas - Terpsichore's Box of Dreams

Program notes:

Dance Mobile (in memoriam Oliver Knussen):

Music for me is an embrace of the world—a way to open myself up to being alive in the world in my body, in my sounds, and in my mind. I care deeply about musicality, imagination, craft, clarity, dimensionality, an elegant balance between material and form, and empathy with the performing musicians.

My works always spark and catch fire from spontaneous improvisations. It is music always in the act of becoming. I have a vivid sense that the process of the creative journey (rather than a predictable fixed point of arrival) is the essence. Poetry can give language to the ineffable. Music is, in an analogous way, akin to an infinite alphabet. Sounds can become like butterflies, hummingbirds, lights, rocks, trees, webs, gardens, and landscapes.

Three virtuosic dances, each lasting circa 4 minutes and 30 seconds, are, as if hanging on an Alexander Calder-like mobile, suspended so as to turn freely in the air; lively, sprightly, spry, energetic, vigorous; animated, traveling, flexible, versatile, changing, fluid, and on the move.

Organic and, at every level, concerned with transformations and connections, the carefully sculpted and fashioned musical materials of Dance Mobile are agile and spirited, and their flexibility allows pathways to braid harmonic, rhythmic, and contrapuntal elements that are constantly transformed—at times whimsical and light, at times jazzy, at times almost Stravinsky-ballet-like, at times layered and reverberating with resonance, pirouettes, fulcrum points, and effervescence.

Across Dance Mobile’s 14-minute duration, there unfolds a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the musicians of the Grossman Ensemble in a virtuosic display of rhythmic agility, counterpoint, skill, energy, dynamic and articulative range, precision, and teamwork.

Dance Mobile is to be performed with dancers when feasible and was commissioned and premiered by the Eastman School of Music in celebration of their 100th anniversary. Commissioning new art is a leap of faith, and as such, artists must always be deeply grateful to those who support the creation and realization of their life’s work.

Music’s eternal quality is its capacity for change, transformation, and renewal. No one composer, musical style, school of thought, technical practice, or historical period can claim a monopoly on music’s truths. I believe music feeds our souls. Unbreakable is the power of art to build community. Humanityhas and will always work together to further music’s flexible, diverse capacity and innate power.

Terpsichore's Box of Dreams:

Music for me is an embrace of the world, a way to open myself to being alive in the world — in my body, in my sounds, and in my mind. I care deeply about musicality, imagination, craft, clarity, dimensionality, an elegant balance between material and form, and empathy with the performing musicians as well as everyone who works in the presenting organizations.

I have placed a quote by Carlo Levi at the top of the first page of this new composition: “The future has an ancient heart.”

Leaping to my ear and mind is the related idea that the ancient has a future heart. In ancient Greek mythology, the muse Terpsichore — a daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne — is the goddess of dance and delight. With her in mind, I have sought to sculpt music that allows our individual and collective creative work to turn freely in the air. Terpsichore’s Box of Dreams is by turns lively, sprightly, spry, energetic, vigorous; it is animated, traveling, flexible, versatile, changing, fluid, and buoyant. While this is not exactly a “concerto for ensemble,” each of the thirteen musicians is featured in several soloistic, virtuosic passages. What will pop out of Terpsichore’s box next?

Although my music is meticulously notated in every detail, I like it to sound like it was being spontaneously invented. It is always in the act of becoming. I have a vivid sense that the process of the creative journey (rather than a predictable fixed point of arrival) is, for me, essential.

I dance while I compose, hoping that my music will feel organic and self-propelled. I work hard to ensure that my music too dances; I often create in my mind and ear imaginary flexible dances and ballets, poems, visual art, lighting, or animations, and I love virtuosic performances that percolate and spiral with natural musicality. My music must be alive, jumping off the page and out of the instrument as if something big is at stake.

This composition, which starts with Terpsichore’s entrance and ends with her departure, imagines the magic box that contains many things, including seven varied, colorful, dimensional dances: 1, Scatter; 2, Tiptoe Caper; 3, Pointillistic Groove Flutter Pirouettes; 4, Slalom; 5, Dream; 6, Gambol; 7, Romp. The form is a crescendo of instrumental expertise: throughout the seventeen-minute composition the brief dances become progressively more virtuosic. The longest dance is no. 5, Dream, which begins at the midpoint of the composition. Elegant, lyrical, and resonant, it concludes with an awakening-fromthe-slumber-of-dream at sunrise, with morning birds and running squirrels. Suddenly the sixth dance, Gambol, swirls forward. After a fifty-second interlude featuring solo violin, oboe, and clarinet, it leads to the irreversible escapade that is dance no. 7, Romp.

Organic and at every level concerned with transformations and connections, the carefully sculpted and fashioned musical materials are agile and spirited. Their flexibility allows pathways to braid harmonic, rhythmic, timbral, and contrapuntal elements which are constantly transformed — sometimes whimsical and light, sometimes jazzy, sometimes almost balletic, sometimes vaguely akin to lively and spirited music on a caffeine rush, sometimes layered and reverberating with overtly cantabile, melodic resonance, pirouettes, fulcrum points, and effervescence.

Terpsichore’s Box of Dreams unfolds a labyrinth of musical interrelationships and connections that showcase the thirteen world-class musicians of the Grossman Ensemble. Here is a virtuosic display of rhythmic and timbral dexterity, counterpoint, skill, energy, dynamic and articulative range, precision, and teamwork. When feasible the composition is to be performed with dancers.

Collaborating with the Grossman Ensemble and Tim Weiss has been one of the most exhilarating experiences of my creative life. It is difficult to express how grateful I am to the many extraordinary colleagues who have made this relationship possible. It is pure magic — deeply rewarding, fun, and sincere. My special thanks to Dr. and Mrs. Grossman, Gay K. Stanek, the Music Department, Anne Robertson, David Levin, Phil Pierick, and the whole Logan Center Team, with particular applause for my friends David Baptista, Frank Gilbert, Bill Michel, Greg Redenius, and Sean Wills.

The UK premiere of Terpsichore’s Box of Dreams, performed by the London Sinfonietta conducted by Vimbayi Kaziboni, will take place on 25 May 2023 in Queen Elizabeth Hall, in London’s Southbank Centre.

Augusta Read Thomas' piece Dance Mobile (in memoriam Oliver Knussen) premiered in Chicago on October 1, 2022, and her piece Terpsichore's Box of Dreams premiered with the Grossman Ensemble on May 19, 2023.