Once, on a late-January drive near evening in northern Michigan, I was awestruck by a scarlet sunset. Hurtling past the naked forest and snow-covered furrows bathed in the last few moments of daylight, I couldn’t help taking a mental picture. It was a picture of light and color as emotion and sound, of winter as a beginning rather than an end.

This musical essay grew from that small moment. The music depicts the colors of a fiery twilight, the last moments of daylight flickering through bare branches along a deserted country road, and the flurry of memories from all four seasons within a single landscape. Interwoven into the musical score is narration taken from my personal journal, drawing parallels between sound and light, nature and music.

Premiered 1 December, 2018, at Grace Episcopal Church, Traverse City, MI: Manitou Winds with Jan Ross, narrator.