Oneironautics Full Score

Description

Oneironautics means the exploration of dreams. To me, this piece is about the landscape and general feelings of dreams I have. The first movement, Sylvan Current, illustrates the dreamer moving through a verdant forest. I don’t imagine it as walking, as most dreams I have don’t focus on a physical form. Rather, the dreamer is almost flying through the forest, twisting and turning through the woods as they encounter different ideas and recurring themes in the forest. The second movement, Horizon Line, paints a picture of the horizon just before nightfall. There is a peace to it, yet there is also an unsettling quality as the darkness begins to approach. As the sun falls below the horizon, the twilight fades and night descends onto the earth. The third movement, Obsidian Dance, represents the twisted dark of night. It features a slow start as the night awakens, and then the movement goes into a quick dance-like feel with varying rhythm and structure. The end of the movement is signified by a jolting chord as the dreamer suddenly awakens. None of these movements represent a specific story; rather, they each represent a vague feeling, the fleeting perception I have about my dreams in my first waking moments.

This piece was specifically written for the trio of Ashish Chakraborty on violin, Alexander Canright on piano, and me on flute. Just before the end of the spring 2019 semester, I asked them if they wanted to perform a trio together, since we were in the same music organization EChO (Engineering Chamber Orchestra). They agreed, and I got to work on the trio. It did not get completed until almost halfway into the next semester, with small changes being made here and there up until the night before the performance. Working with them has been amazing, and they have been able to play any technical passage I give them extremely well.