Worlds Within and Without

Dedication: For Janet and all that she carries, within and without.

Program note:
Winthrop Hall – the great gathering place of UWA – has been witness to countless exams, graduations and concerts. I have been party to only a tiny proportion of those, but they count among my happiest memories. Chief among these was Plainsong – a theatrical event in and around the Hall during which I was allowed free rein on the hall’s organ. This work is written for that very same instrument, curling as it does around the Hall’s Rose Window. This window has always drawn me in, with its beautiful symmetries and filigree intricacies – a portal to another world.
The title Worlds Within and Without alludes to both the physical journey from inside the University to beyond, as well as the spiritual expansion of an individual’s mind and the effect that this can have on the outside world. Thus musically, the work is filled with reflections and expansions, with passages of ornate chromatic activity counteracting more austere, open chorales.

2012

Worlds Within and Without

For Concert Organ