Music + Environment with Three Passions for our tortured Planet

With the increasing buildup of greenhouse gases across the planet, we are threatened with a climate crisis whose long-term impact is greater than world wars, political unrest or the coronavirus pandemic. 

There is a heat wave of historic proportions occurring in the Arctic right now, a region that is already the fastest warming place on Earth.  With the warming of the planet, huge glaciers are melting in the Arctic and Antarctica and, with that, sea levels are expected to rise between 10 and 32 inches (26 and 82 centimeters) or higher by the end of the century.  This will also cause a reduction of drinking water, since glaciers store about three-quarters of the world's freshwater, and are melting into the salt-water ocean.

Climate change is also causing radical shifts in global precipitation. Some areas of the planet are seeing an increased intensity of rainfall, with hurricanes and other storms becoming more intense, stronger. Some other regions are experiencing severe drought, causing vast wildfires as we saw recently with the blazes across most of Australia, Brazil and increasingly see in the United States.  Without addressing the root-causes of carbon emissions, large parts of the U.S. face a higher risk of decades-long "megadroughts" by 2100.

To bring further awareness to this danger that—in the end—will impact all citizens of this earth, I have composed “Three Passions for our Tortured Planet” for solo piano which focuses on three areas of climate change.

The first movement, “…fire…”, is a reflection on the forest fires raging across California and the American West on a recurring, and increasingly alarming basis.  The work starts with a “spark,” that flickers and quickly spreads, growing more complicated.   The fire begins to rage loudly, and across register, building to a climax which eventually becomes more controlled, as it burns itself out and dies.  

The second movement, “…glaciers…”, is a distant, stately movement that depicts the enormous ices on earth’s poles.   These slow, ponderous moments are sporadically interrupted by rapidly falling, thundering episodes, depicting the shearing of the glacial ice with ever-warming temperatures.  

Concluding the set is the third movement, entitled “…winds…”   This virtuosic finale begins with running winds that become increasingly intense and hurricane/typhoon-like in their destructiveness before dissipating into a barely-noticeable breeze.

It is my hope that this work will play a role in continuing to bring further awareness and dialog around climate change, and our need to act quickly.