i. The Price of Apathy - score preview
ii. Once Intoxicated with Power... - score preview
iii. The Alibi of Tyrants - score preview
iv. Imagine a Boot Stamping on a Human Face - score preview
v. Epilogue: The Fulfillment of the Law - score preview
Commissioned by Chamber Cartel
Duration: 22 min.
Commissioned by the contemporary music ensemble Chamber Cartel, LISTEN is a work that serves as a bit of a warning. So many of us, especially citizens of the United States, take our freedoms for granted. However, authoritarianism, hatred, fear of change, fear of those who are different, and a lack of true empathy lurk just beneath the surface of our gleaming democracy. Throughout recorded history, humanity has watched helplessly as the darker nature of our souls unravel the nobility of our civilization. One by one, great empires have arisen and flourished over the many centuries only to ultimately succumb to the worst versions of ourselves.
The title of this work, LISTEN, is not necessarily a call to pay attention to the music. Rather, it is a call to heed the warnings that have been issued throughout history concerning the fragility of human freedom. Each movement takes its title from a slightly longer quote from those who have sounded an alarm when human freedom and dignity have faced peril. The first movement, The Price of Apathy takes its title from a quote ascribed to the Greek philosopher Plato (c. 427-347 BC): The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men. The music is free and almost careless and moves along almost as blithely as citizens unaware of the motivations behind policies that slowly – almost imperceptibly – begin to change their lives for the worse.
The second movement, Once Intoxicated with Power… comes from a longer quotation by the English statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke (1729-1797) who stated, Those who have been once intoxicated with power…can never willingly abandon it. The music in this movement careens almost drunkenly in much the same way an authoritarian grows increasingly gleeful as over-reaches of power are largely left unchallenged.
The music in the third movement, The Alibi of Tyrants, tries to set a consoling tone but it never quite succeeds. There is an underlying unease and dissonance in the music reflective of a quote by the French philosopher and novelist Albert Camus (1913-1960) who wrote The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants. Authoritarians try to say reassuring things in hopes that we may let our guard down for a “greater good.” However, in the same way the music in this movement has darker and more dissonant undertones, so too are the deeper motivations for an authoritarian’s reassurances.
The fourth movement, Imagine a Boot Stamping on a Human Face is the starkest and most violent of the movements. It is reflective of the authoritarian’s endgame when public apathy, the intoxication of power, and given alibis for the revocation of freedoms in the name of public welfare all culminate to reveal full blown fascism. At that point, all pretense is gone, and it is too late to do anything. A society is lost. The title comes from the novelist George Orwell (1903-1950) in his dystopian novel 1984: If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face – forever.
Despite the dark subject matter, I wanted to end this composition with a more reassuring sentiment and offer a way to avoid falling into the disturbing scenarios reflected in the piece. The title of the movement, The Fulfillment of the Law, is taken from St. Paul’s epistle to the Romans (13:10): Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. The music is much different in character as compared to the first four movements. It features a slow repeating chordal pattern in the marimba which feels like it is in three quarter time despite the music being written in 4/4 time. This pattern sways slowly in a peaceful and reassuring manner. The melodic fragments contained in the movement are made up of three note patterns and are mostly built on perfect intervals. The use of the number three (the chordal patterns and melodic fragments) represents the Holy Trinity while the use of perfect intervals brings to my mind the perfection of God. Surely loving one’s neighbor and trying to do no harm is a perfect antidote for a world anguishing in hate and division.