This is my latest completed work. It took me over three years to write and required about 800 hours of work as it went through countless revisions.
ONEIRONAUTS - mp3 file (14MB)
ONEIRONAUTS - complete pdf score
"Oneironaut" means "explorer of dreams." It is used primarily to describe those who practice the art of Lucid Dreaming. A lucid dream is one in which the dreamer is fully aware and conscious during sleep, and able to directly influence the shape and direction of the dream. This work was intended to evoke the feeling of such a journey -- the sudden and often fleeting moments of clarity, and the ever-shifting visuals and story components.
While much of the writing is free-form, there are a few concrete thematic elements that are tied to specific images. The piano and harp represent the dreamer, only sometimes aware, attempting to exert influence on the rest of the orchestra. Tremolos in the strings mark the transitions between different dreams, while slowly shifting harmonies in the lowest registers of the winds mimic the deep breathing that comes with sleep.
As with most of my writing in the last 8 years, all construction was done using the Piano-Roll-View of a sequencer, doing only final edits and clean-up using traditional notation. I find that I continue to make new personal discoveries this way, especially in the realms of harmony and instrumentation. It was especially useful for this work, as I found myself frequently copying a large mass of notes to a new area, layering it over existing material, or altering it in a number of different ways.
I would like to give special thanks to David Sosnowski who with some excellent advice helped me through a very difficult time getting this finished.
Orchestra: 3 fl (3=picc), 2 ob, E.h., 2 cl, b-cl, 2 bsn, c-bsn, brass: 4/3/3/1, timp, 4 perc, piano, harp, strings
Audio: Sonar 8 PE; Sonitus compressor and multi-band compressor; Perfect Space (Concertgebauw Hall/multi-position, 6 instances); Soundforge 8
Libraries: Garritan Personal Orchestra, Garritan JABB, Garritan CMB, Garritan Steinway
Score: Sibelius 6
Thank you for listening.
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