Dreams Go Through Me
three songs for soprano, clarinet (bass clarinet), cello, piano

- YEAR: 2009
- TEXT: Emily Brönte, Megan Buness, Lord Byron
- DURATION: 12-13 minutes
- COMMISSIONED BY: The Playground Ensemble through a gift by an anonymous donor
- THEMES: dreams, death
TEXTS:
1. LIKE WINE THROUGH WATER
I’ve dreamt in my life dreams that have stayed with me ever after and changed my ideas; they’ve gone through and through me, like wine through water, and altered the color of my mind.
(Emily Brönte)
2. RABBIT’S ESCAPE
All the rabbits escaped! They were in the front yard, but now they’re gone. “Grandmother! Help me find them!” So I looked behind the tool shed and around the corner. I saw this huge pink cartoon bunny coming closer and closer until it ate me. And there I was in darkness…so this must be what death is like…
(adapted from an actual dream of Megan Buness)
3. SLEEP HATH ITS OWN WORLD
Our life is twofold;
Sleep hath its own world,
A boundary between the things misnamed
Death and existence:
Sleep hath its own world,
And a wide realm of wild reality,
And dreams in their development have breath,
And tears, and tortures, and the touch of joy;
They leave a weight upon our waking thoughts,
(excerpt from Lord Byron’s The Dream)
PROGRAM NOTES:
Dreams Go Through Me was commissioned by The Playground Ensemble through the gift of an anonymous donor. In conversation with the ensemble’s soprano, Megan Buness, a concept for the piece emerged: Her interest in dream journaling suggested to me a “dreamscape” song cycle, expressing a sense of altered time and reality that we experience in sleep.
PREMIERE:
The Playground Ensemble
Hsing-ay Hsu, guest pianist
April 14, 2010
Pendulum Music Series
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO
OTHER PERFORMANCES:
The Playground Ensemble
May 13, 2010
University of Denver
Denver, CO
The Playground Ensemble
March 15, 2011
Regis University Guest Artist Series
Denver, CO