Elsewhere (2018)

I. Witness
II. After the Voices
III. At the Bend
IV. Summer Sky
V. Just this
VI. Good Night

I have named this song cycle Elsewhere because, for me, these highly evocative poems suggest so much more than their literal meanings, taking me to other places, other times, to magical worlds that have been lost, and to the wonders of enduring love.

In the first song, a long orchestral interlude separates the two sentences that make up the poem. The second and fifth songs speak of absence and loss; they are very similar in musical content and structure but arrive at different conclusions, the fifth song, Just This, ending more calmly. Summer Sky, the fourth song, is lighter in tone and ends with large, quiet chords spread throughout the orchestra. The third and sixth songs are love songs, with Good Night recalling musical elements of the previous five songs.

Brian Elias