Evening Waterfall

“Evening Waterfall” comes from a cycle of eleven a cappella choral pieces derived from “Early Moon,” a collection of poetry by Carl Sandburg. The images in these simple, direct lyrics have a depth and resonance that all but cry out for musical expression. “Evening Waterfall” is one of the easiest, certainly the most diatonic, of the “Early Moon” pieces. Imagine yourself, or perhaps, your childhood self, sitting in a tree or lying on the grass in the gloaming of a summer’s evening. The sounds of birds, the feel of wind on your skin, the sight of early stars: all seem to conspire to give you a name…to call you by your real name. But such knowledge–a kind of certainty about one’s self and place–is ephemeral. It cannot be willed to appear, or to stay. We are left alone, wondering “what was the name you called me? and why did you go so soon?”