Hidden Places

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Door to monolith and lone tree. Tom Beghin, pianoforte

I: On being called to secret worlds
II: Hymn
III: Random Access (dub mix)

This is a piece I have written for, and in consultation with, Tom Beghin. It both exploits and comments on his techniques and methodologies. Taking his interest in rhetoric as a point of departure, I have used Hidden Places to explore and celebrate the intellect in music and the lonely journeys that are often required to foster it.

It seems that the cacophony of thoughts in our modern age can lead to a kind of fantastic synergy if we let it. A groove of intellectual understandings and spiritual enlightenment, the elements that make up this internal world are disparate and seemingly random. We constantly combine and convolve these thoughts and feelings, curiosities and passions into a private narrative—a mix if you will.

It is the task of the artist to seek out a place where deep understanding (however that is defined) can be a catalyst to desire. While we often celebrate the art object, it is the process that is often most fulfilling to the creator. Hidden Places has its own private narrative of study and rehearsal, epiphanies and reexaminations. Some of this is musically extroverted (written in the score). Some of the music, especially in the first movement, is very particular to this performer. The final movement is my personal expression of the joy of creation, and returns to dance, with which so much of my music has intersected.

Charles Gran

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