Echoes in Fifths (2018)

Echoes in Fifths is a choral work that was commissioned by my alma mater, Illinois Wesleyan University's Collegiate Choir, under the direction of J. Scott Ferguson.  It was a true honor to write for the choir and director that taught me to love every syllable, every vowel, every breath in choral music.

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The music is built in perfect fifths, expanding from two notes to all twelve chromatic pitches, which are aspiring to be heard as consonant.

The text is original and speaks to the creative process, referencing a "woodsmith" who delights in his mistakes and is happy to remake things in a new way, an homage to my grandfather Alan Noel Swanson, a self-taught woodworker who passed away the year I wrote this piece.

The recording above is from the premiere, April 2019.