ANDREW GARBETT

“...no thoughts to think, no tears to cry…” (2003-2004)

for double wind quintet

 

Musically reminiscent of Morton Feldman, the title of this piece comes from a song lyric by Roger Waters, "Amused to Death".  It evokes a world of total media saturation in which we have lost all trace of real human emotions, where something is only real if shown on TV.   The social and personal alienation of the video/computer generation has grown to a point where we are incapable of connecting with, understanding and empathizing with one another.   It all boils down to whether or not mankind is capable of being humane, if not then we are merely the dying shadows of what we ought to be. 

 

This piece is an elegiac meditation on that question, combining a certain desolation of the lone individual with hope that in the end we can move towards the light, rather than ultimately amusing ourselves to death.

 

                                                                                                          -Andrew Garbett

 

 

The following programme notes may be reproduced with the following notice:

© Andrew Garbett, 2004