Adulthood

While Youth carries a naïve optimism, Adulthood reflects a more turbulent and introspective stage of one’s life. Cole’s Manhood is perhaps the most overtly Romantic in style, with the protagonist now facing harsh rapids amongst sombre, autumnal colours. In turn, my compositional response takes on a romantic configuration by opening with a cantabile melody over left hand arpeggios, reminiscent of Schumann’s Op. 9, No. 12. The piece later diverges from this style at bar 17, where the romantic atmosphere is replaced by a texturally sparse whole-tone sequence marked ‘lose consciousness’. I used the whole-tone scale to establish a dreamy atmosphere, alluding to the protagonist crashing into the rapids. Formal feedback suggesting I explore contemporary music influenced this section. I was recommended Barbara Monk Feldman, who sees colour as a crucial component in her compositional practice (Barton & Rhys, 2021), and her piece The Northern Shore (1997) exercises restraint whilst producing rich, evocative textures. This work significantly altered my approach to this piece, reminding me to appreciate the silence between notes, as it is just as important as the notes themselves.