Trapped in Amber
String orch, 10’ (2012)
Trapped in Amber was inspired by Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut. When I first read the book, I was struck by Vonnegut’s use of time-travel and other nonsensical devices to show how humans truly think and experience things - not always in a linear, in-the-moment logical fashion, but with our minds constantly darting around from the past to the future to the present. I wished to show the drama of this in the music. The title comes from the scene when the main character Billy Pilgrim is first abducted by the Tralfamadorians:
"Why me?"
"That is a very Earthling question to ask, Mr. Pilgrim. Why you? Why us for that matter? Why anything? Because this moment simply is. Have you ever seen bugs trapped in amber?
"Yes." Billy, in fact had a paperweight in his office which was a blob of polished amber with three ladybugs embedded in it.
"Well, here we are, Mr. Pilgrim, trapped in the amber of the moment. There is no why."
Winner of the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award in 2014. Contact me to purchase.