Routes of Time (2018)
Text
Routes of Time
by Benjamin Beckman
i.
white effervescent veils upon buoyant wind differentials of anatomical lines
an illuminated shimmer on a manuscript map pastel sails disappearing beyond distant horizons to lands drenched with verdant color
the sea foams gently past humiliated lichen-covered stones. their age consumed by listening
to its rolling trickle past the sand
ii.
guards of ever-ticking clocks
lusting for drops of molten substance
images of incomprehensible purity
unseen by its bold faces
hearts pounding with sediment discarded
a blinding vision wrought by suns
bare before eyes of naked glory
iii.
flurry of furious spray, battering the wintertime
bolts of gravity seduced by its thunder
currents of the profound deep swirling amidst shoals drowning in maritime navy
diaphanous haze wrought amidst cerulean power sea caves dank with crystalline sludge
the breadth of an unknown field
upon which galleys laid waste to unknown fate never to see the heavens, hidden by hollow pillars forged in masked lands below
iv.
blissful palms behind sealed boundaries
untouched by salted entanglement
drifting migrants alight in their branches
a singular arisen shaft of wood
glanced on the shore by watchful sight
blackberries glistening in rot
falling from signed boughs
reached, unreaped by life
before their morph from uselessness
v.
flashes of hail made unknown cylindrical holes, pockets of vibrance sprouting, teeming, ever cycling paucity of size flirting amongst itself echoes of infinities untamed
bathed in brightness of ancestry epitomes of an edge unreached untouched by sins of dust
vi.
fantastical,
wanderlusting pilgrims
among shadows of men contagious,
consumed in awe at sheer expanse
uncollared, untethered, unchained
floating upon routes of time
General Information
Movements:
i. (flowing)
ii. (precise)
iii. (pulsing)
iv. (saturated)
v. (rapid)
vi. (flowing)
Text: Routes of Time by Benjamin Beckman (2017)
Commissioner: Written for Emmeline Sipe
Written: February 2017 – January 2018
Duration: ca. 25’
Instrumentation: soprano + vln + pf
Program Note
Routes of Time was written from February to December of 2017 for Emmeline Sipe and her mother, Jennifer Startt. The text conjures images of the way time passes, ebbs, and flows by paralleling a journey at sea. The piece is inspired by Emmeline’s perspective on the debate of predestination versus free will: she theorizes that time is like a map, and when a choice is made, a wanderer goes down a certain marked path. In this sense, the seafaring voyage we experience parallels a person following different routes on this map of time. I imagine that our experience of time, its duration, and its passage might also be similar to the tide, the rise and fall of coastlines, or waves beating against the shore.
The first section of music provides an overview of a journey: a brilliant galley drifting off to distant, uncharted lands. As the boat approaches a shore, large granite rocks can be seen withstanding the pounding of the waves and the heat of the sun (or maybe the flowing of time). Casting off again, the boat enters a storm - a rough passage - and sinks to the seafloor, to spend the rest of eternity never to see sunlight again. Next appears a barren island with only birds; fruit is seen rotting on the bush, giving a sense of overbearing sweetness and pungency to the scene. Then, we encounter another storm; this time, vibrant and invigorating in contrast with the previous destructive one. As the piece begins to conclude, it becomes clear that the fantastical journey we have experienced has paralleled the passage of time in reality. We discuss our boat’s travelers and their metaphysical experience, while motives from all movements are heard again, representing a collision of time and presented themes.
The piece is about twenty-five minutes long in six distinct sections (but not movements) that must be performed all together attacca.