Chamber Poem no 1 Piano, Cello & Flute
"The anthropologists seemed to be just walking by,
asking nosy questions
...and then they made masks of their faces"
A documentary I saw contained old footage of German anthropologists in the era just preceding WWII. They were visiting other countries, studying the racial characteristics of the people. The action that shocked me into writing this music was when I saw them lay the people down, put straws in their noses, and pour a thick paste over the faces. The people were so trusting to have this suffocating action done to them by strangers. And then I thought, is this how it happens? you define the differences so clearly, that you become very clear about the differences you don't like? And then what?
Chamber Poem no 2 Piano, Cello & Horn
"So short,
so fragile
...this dance they call life"
Ironically this is the longest one at just under 15 minutes. The music is like a passage of time in someone's life: a person who thinks that it's all over. They're alone in a large room that is perfect to dance in, but there is no one there to dance with. They don't know it then, but they will dance again, with more emotion and brilliance than what they have ever danced with before.
Chamber Poem no 3
"Ode to Douglas Scott"
In 1985 Douglas Scott, an Australian Aboriginal was found hanging in a prison cell, six weeks after he was arrested. It wasn't the first time this had happened in Australia.
His wife fought for years to have an autopsy performed. Eventually, exhumation and autopsy in 2005, by a Brazilian doctor, revealed multiple fractures consistent with beating. Douglas Scott's wife, Letty, continued to push for an investigation. Words can't describe the agony and loneliness of dying while incarcerated.
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