When You Contemplate the Waters

An old haiku by Kyokusai (1816-1874) goes: "When you contemplate the waters at day break, you can hear the lotus blossom" (English translation from Japanese Death Poems, ed. Yoel Hoffman, 1986), alluding to a popular but unsubstantiated belief that the lotus flower makes a subtle noise when it opens. Instead of approximating that imagined noise, When You Contemplate the Waters affirms what the lotus traditionally symbolizes: purity, awakening, and life. The piece is built around two opposite forces: the water—fluid, unstable, and freely given to transformation; and the lotus—solid and assured in its purpose. Sometimes they are directly opposed; at other times it is more difficult to tell them apart. In the end the flower blossoms, emerging out of the murky waters.

When You Contemplate the Waters is the second in a cycle of loosely related pieces inspired by Japanese death haiku, preceded by On the Verge and followed by Heavenward. Furthermore, it is a kind of homage to Takemitsu, and is transparently inspired by Rain Coming, especially in its opening moments. Inevitably, it diverges in a completely different direction. It was written for the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory New Music Ensemble and completed in Baltimore in the spring of 2013.