Dream Suspended

Scored for Five Bowed Vibraphones and Crystal Glasses
Completed in 2004
Duration: 10 minutes

Premiered in 2004 in Bloomington, Indiana
Indiana University Percussion Ensemble
Eric Guinivan, conductor 

Program Note

Dream Suspended combines the transparent texture of five bowed vibraphones with the similarly glassy sound of three wine glasses to create an eerie and ethereal sound world. The piece is a study on pedal point - a high E6 is sustained throughout the piece as a resonant sonority slowly emerges in the vibraphones. This chord originates in the upper octave of the instrument, but as the wine glasses enter to adopt the high E, the sonority expands to encompass the entire range of the instrument. The listener is left in a suspended state as the sonority gradually develops towards a large crescendo that finally breaks through the static pianissimo texture.  Dream Suspended subtly utilizes what could be called "vibrato counterpoint" by moving the E6 pedal point from instrument to instrument, each set to different vibrato speeds.