commissioned by Daniel Buscher
Chapter One, Page One
solo amplified flute and live audio processing, 8′
24 pages, 9×12 inches
pdf preview
Premiered by Daniel Buscher on December 6, 2008 at Evergreen State College, Olympia, WA.
Program Note:
Chapter One, Page One is a celebration of Henry Miller’s unique and often controversial literary works. Expatriating himself from the American mainstream culture of mediocrity and resignation, Miller’s anti-capitalist, anti-nationalist, and anti-puritan views border somewhere between nihilism and eastern philosophy. The text used in the piece (spoken and sung by the flautist) comes from a short excerpt of Miller’s landmark Tropic of Cancer :
It is now the fall of my second year in Paris.
I was sent here for a reason I have not yet been able to fathom.
I have no money, no resources, no hope.
I am the happiest man alive.
