Northern Spire

About 3 Big Questions:

3 Big Questions (2004) is essentially three miniature art song pieces for soprano and piano, although they could also be sung by a tenor an octave lower.  I was interested in the idea of exploring three "big", or, frankly, unanswerable, questions ("What is life?"; "What is truth?"; "When will there be peace?") in a miniature musical form.  The original texts are meant to reflect the often sophomoric nature of pondering such questions, but are placed in the context of rather simple musical ideas.  (The second movement, in particular, is sung almost entirely on one note.)

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Please click on the title page image above for sample pages from the score.

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Below is a recording of the premiere performance in April, 2005.  My apologies that I do not recall the name of the pianist.