An excerpt from Silent Moon for orchestra that explores the mutable elasticity of sound.

The inspiration for this piece was a part of Giacomo Leopardi’s poem Canto notturno di un pastore errante dell’ Asia:

Soft and clear is the night and without wind, and quietly
over the roofs and in the gardens rests the moon, and far
away reveals every peaceful mountain.

O gentle, gracious moon, I remember now, it must be a
year ago, on this same hill I came to see you; I was full of
sorrow. And you were leaning then above that wood just as
now, filling it all with brilliance.

O cherished moon, beneath whose quiet beams the hares
dance in the woods…

Already all the air darkens, deepens to blue, and shadows glide
from roofs and hills at the whitening of the recent moon.

What do you do there, moon, in the sky? Tell me what you
do , silent moon. When evening comes you rise and go contemplating wastelands; then you set.

translated by Patrick Creagh