Ocean Park No. 24

for Violin, Horn, Bassoon, and Contrabass

Click Here To Download an MP3 of "Ocean Park No. 24"

This piece is a reaction to Diebenkorn's Ocean Park No. 24. Diebenkorn’s work is such a powerful and complex piece that I knew there was no way I would be able to capture it in sound. Instead I decided to try to capture a bit of how I reacted to it. I noticed when looking at the piece that from a distance it seemed very calm and serene, save perhaps the angular blue line, but as I walked closer many imperfections challenged this sense of calm – brush strokes, drops of the 'wrong' color in different places, and my perception of the whole painting became a bit uneasy, but then, when I walked right up to the painting these imperfections and the dissonance of the blue line began to pulsate and become part of the beauty and serenity I had seen from afar but in a new, vibrant way. At the end of my composition I also tried to capture my experience of leaving the piece, trailing off in its luscious blue that seems to fade off into the depths.

Performance time is about 3'.

To see the painting please click here, or visit the Yale University Art Gallery.