voice and piano arrangements of movements from Beyond the Sanctuary Walls

Speak Lovewords is a cycle of three love songs dedicated to Lydia Hwang. These songs are a celebration of Lydia’s beautiful way of being - her wisdom, curiosity, spirituality, bravery, and compassion. From Lydia, I have learned to trust and appreciate my internal world, which in turn has inspired the imagery of this song cycle.
My inspiration for Movement I was a dream I had of a “sea of love.” In my dream, I watched a barren landscape fill with water until it was covered with a shallow, warm ocean. The water had a mysterious property: bathing in it would allow anyone to bypass their feelings of shame or unworthiness, granting them access to love with no resistance. The form of the movement is a series of waves, repeatedly filling up the musical texture with resonance, and then emptying out.
Movement II is a love song of an intimate kind. It is an observation of an everyday marvel: the tendency of the morning hours to slip by unnoticed when they are shared with someone we love.
Movement III is a return to the gestural magic of the first movement. This time, the musical texture is filled not with an ocean, but with shimmering light. I imagined a sky filled with so many stars that even night time is brightly lit. In the final measures of the piece, we turn to the person sitting next to us and see the starlight reflected in their eyes.