Elephants Dreams
Calm soothing strings gently float while a delicate and ethereal “dream drops” sound lulls the mind and body into a serene, tranquil state of rest. The mood is calm and peaceful. There is equilibrium, like an angle of repose, but it is delicate and tenuous.
The Strings alone have a thick, woolly sound. In the absence of the Brass, Woodwinds, and Percussion, the Strings provide a darker and warmer texture while retaining the melodic and harmonic content of this section.
This edit is less weighty. Its sound is focused on the upper sonic of the orchestration.
A Viola states a gently flowing but agitated melodic entrance. There is apprehension masked in calm; a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The Viola is supported contrapuntally by Cello, Contrabass and Bass Clarinet and is dense and weighty, like the breathing of a deep sleep. The overall feeling is disconcerting and unsettled. A short harp glissando signals a dream, like a REM state. But what dreams may come?
A lighter take on the full orchestration, but no less agitated and unsettled.
The solo piano is a beautifully haunting piece that lays bare the structure of the full orchestration. There is a wistful and melancholy feeling. The final chord arpeggio is unnerving, and a sonic statement of chaotic and frenzied things to come.
The mind is racing, the body is tossing and turning. Images are blurred, vague, and terrifying. Tumultuous, turbulent, driving, suspenseful, uneasy, and uncertain, this edit evokes images that only a nightmare can produce.
Still driving, whirling, and tumultuous, the Brass and Woodwinds combination provide a sharp, staccato articulation that stimulates a sense of urgency and terror.
The Percussion drives a daunting march in an odd time signature. Thunderous and relentless, it pushes forward as it crescendos, climaxing in cataclysmic crash.
Jarring, thick, dense, heavy horns and strings conjure ominous things ahead, or the arrival in a place unknown that is bizarre and terrifying. The word “dream” evokes calmness and repose. It sounds lovely and peaceful. Unless it’s a nightmare. Will you wake up?
Swirling ascending Strings and Piccolo Flute pull like the updraft of a tornado. Thunderous low Brass and Percussion drive a deluge in an odd meter pulse. Another sequential ascending crescendo builds the chaos and fury that land in a most uneasy, dissonant place.
A dreadful, highly dissonant Piano chord announces the end. Solo Viola, Cello, and Contrabass mourn the loss. A bowed Gong moans and creaks under the weight of this certainty. Darkness prevails, yet somehow, there is a sense of peace to the finality.
It is the beginning of a journey that no traveler returns. Footsteps are uneasy but plod ever forward toward an irresistible and inevitable truth. There is strangeness, but familiarity, there is fear, yet there is calm and peace.
As a solo Piano piece from which the above orchestration was constructed, this hauntingly beautiful composition is in the tradition of the Second Viennese School; Schoenberg, Webern, Berg et al. Atonal, angular, unsettling, yet beautiful and profound.
The addition of a “dream drops” type of sound adds airy gossamer of ancient dreams.
Solo Violin, Viola, Cello and Contrabass portray a stark and weary heaviness. The motion is dense, thick and the mood disconcerting
This film score was inspired by the animated short film “Elephants Dreams” (2006). The music is a twisted, nightmarish journey into the recesses of the sleeping mind. Dreams aren’t all unicorns, lollipops, and rainbows.