An Autumn Story (2023)

An Autumn Story is, for me, an emblem of a youthful time in my musical journey. I wrote it when I felt like I was at the top of the world and knew no bounds in terms of what I could do. I had just graduated high school in an emerging post-pandemic world, and I entered college eager to get to work. At the same time, I was enraptured by the scenery of that first fall semester on campus. During the day the energy was high, an optimism permeated the air, and the sun cut through the sky forming the most beautiful colors in the sky; at night, the air was cold, I was alone, constantly thinking about myself and where I fit in the world. It was in the mix of these contrasting settings, amped up by teenage emotions, from which An Autumn Story emerged.

An Autumn Story is the story of two lovers in the fall – one excited to see it emerge and basking in its beauty, the other reluctant, knowing that winter is soon to follow. They meet for the first time and immediately something clicks between them; a strong bond builds between them as they spend time together in the autumn environment. However, tensions soon arise – he longs to tell her of his growing love for her, but he can’t find the courage to do so; on the other hand, she longs for him to make a move to give her a reason to stay around for the bitter winter. After a tense spat where she asks one last time for him to convince her to stay, he doesn’t catch the hint, losing her forever. Now alone, he recounts his autumn adventure while reminiscing on a simpler time. The piece ends with an instrumental fugue built on a leitmotif that recurs throughout the song cycle: a leitmotif reminding us that moments lost can never be regained.

The song cycle is a mix of Baroque, rock, and operatic elements that relies as heavily, if not more, on its eclectic instrumentation to portray the narrative as its text. It’s meant to be youthful, raw, and at times overdramatic – as it should be! This is my love letter to my favorite artists at the time who took that approach – the Moody Blues, early Deep Purple, and others that blended classical and rock in this unusual, self-aggrandizing way.