Title: Aimless Wonder

Year: 2017

Program note:

Wondering and wandering go hand in hand, especially when one has no particular destination in mind; or a destination so distant that arrival ceases to be an immediate concern. When wandering aimlessly the mind seems to become at once more receptive and more creative than when sitting still, and I often experience the imaginative flow of composing as something that happens most vividly while walking. Ideally one can get lost in the woods, or follow the twists and turns of a river without regard for where they might lead, or drift through the streets of an unknown town without a map… Every beauty, great or small, appears as an unsought gift; and even the common-place might appear beautiful by virtue of the fact that one is not seeking anything in particular, but hoping only to be open to what may emerge unexpected from the unforeseen situation.