The Spell of a Vanishing Loveliness (2004)
for Pulse Ensemble

(Mezzo-Soprano Voice, Vibraphone, Electric Guitar, Cello)

8 minutes

With three friends I was on a townhouse roof in Brooklyn early in the evening of September 11, 2001. Surveying the entire lower Manhattan cityscape for the first time, I watched as a distant flickering mass seemed to be coming closer toward us from the World Trade Center site. At first it looked like a swarm of white butterflies, glittering in the evening sun, but as it got closer we realized that it was paper floating toward us from lower Manhattan. It was a quite beautiful and ethereal sight with the swarm coming directly over us and many of the pages from law books and computer printouts, landing all around us on the roof. We all watched as the swarm passed over us and quietly continued further into Brooklyn. No more than five minutes, this small and ephemeral moment, still resonated with me three years later, as I began to write this composition. My original lyrics are inspired by a short poem by Li Po.

A more detailed story about my experience on September 11, 2001 that inspired "The Spell of a Vanishing Loveliness" can be found on my Numinosum blog.