Tyler Taylor, Out of Dust for Chamber Orchestra (2024)

This piece was commissioned by the Chicago Composers Orchestra. Many thanks for their performance of this piece!
The piece started as an attempt at whimsy that came to a halt when I realized I didn't care for the material I had come up with. With the deadline fast approaching, I salvaged the material by opening it up and expanding it in several ways. While the initial impulse wasn't quite a success, the process of writing this piece reminded my to trust my intuition and to not fix what's not broken - I'm quite pleased with the result!
Note from the Score:
"Out of Dust" is an exploration of how memories can transform as they cycle back and forth between the conscious and subconscious mind. Oftentimes, I find myself struggling to decipher whether the feeling of a memory is the authentic original, or if it is a version influenced by my current state of mind. I like to think that the music of this piece undergoes similar transformations - maintaining integral aspects while the surrounding context is greatly altered. Is it familiar at this point, something new, or perhaps a sense of déjà vu?