cool water   do not drink

for string quartet

I was next to a cool, clear stream of fresh running water, and I was terribly thirsty. I knew that I could not drink the water, but I did not know why. I could only watch as it glittered past me.

I rarely remember my dreams, so when I do, I tend to find significance in them. My attempt to make sense of it was this: a world of care, abundance, justice, and freedom is so achievable, but kept consistently out of our reach—by the forces of prejudice, conformity, disaster capitalism, fear, and so many more things, great and small.

How can we imagine—and try to build—that world, even while we live in this one? How do we hold hope and sadness in our hearts, together? This piece does not, alas, offer any answers. It takes refuge in anger, but anger can only burn so long before it burns out. It mostly resists the urge to brood. It reflects, palely, the beauty of what could be, and seeks the beauty in what is.

cool water   do not drink is a winner of the Quatuor Molinari's Ninth International Composition Competition. It will be premiered by them in Montréal on September 27, 2024. A perusal score is available here.