Comfort in a Whirlwind
Duration - 9:00
Instrumentation - Full orchestra -
     1+pic.2.2.2 - 4.3.3.1 - perc(3) - hp - pno - strings

The poet Gerard Manley Hopkins writes of an overwhelming depression he describes as "pitched past pitch of grief" in a poem titled the same. Experiencing a crisis of faith, away from home and everything familiar, he questions how well "comfort serves in a whirlwind." Music often serves as a source of comfort, but when I write for the orchestra today, it's hard to have faith in music this way. What can I compose in times of personal and societal collapse? How can the decadence of the orchestra address anything current? What is comfort in a whirlwind?