Beyond the Ten Thousand Things

Year Composed:	2023
Instrumentation:	cl + string quintet
Duration	19 minutes

I.	The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao
II.	Where the pot's not | Is where it's useful
III.	Opinion is the barren flower of the Way | The beginning of ignorance
IV.	Even the best weapon | Is an unhappy tool | Hateful to living things
V.	The Way in the World | Is as a stream to the valley | A river to the sea
VI.	Heavy is the root of the light | Still is the master of movement

Program Notes

Beyond the Ten Thousand Things was inspired by the Tao Te Ching, a collection of ancient Chinese writings by the semi-mythic figure known as Lao Tzu. The music is less a reflection of the text itself, and more a chronicle of my own attempts at understanding Lao Tzu's profound but elusive insights. Each of the six movements is based on a particular verse from the Tao Te Ching. These verses encompass everything among the 'ten thousand things' (referring to the totality of the material world under heaven) - from metaphysics to political satire to linguistic games in the vein of a court jester. Likewise, I have tried to create a piece full of stylistic diversity, drawing from multiple traditions, but always oriented toward an intuitive if mystical ideal.

I. The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.

The first line of the Tao Te Ching sets up an unusual creation myth, one which draws our attention to the impossibility of articulating what the Tao (or the 'Way') actually is; it loses its essence the moment we reduce it to words. Open consonances, along with simple, descending minor scales, gesture toward primordial word-painting; but it is the silences between the notes that speak most to the ineffable. (Performers are encouraged to experiment with the timing of these pauses depending on the acoustics of their venue.)

II. Where the pot's not | Is where it's useful

The most playful verse in this work is also the trickiest, as Lao Tzu remarks on the dichotomy between material containers (pots, walls, wheels) and the nothingness they contain - paradoxically where their use lies. In this spirited, pizzicato-heavy movement, the clarinet plays the role of a soloist, lyrical and cheeky by turns. Meanwhile, our attention is drawn to the absene of the violins, as well as the huge registral gulf - the domain of 'useful emptiness' - between the clarinet and the walking bass.

III. Opinion is the barren flower of the Way | The beginning of ignorance

In this brief, satirical cadenza for solo clarinet, a symmetrical row of pitches (consisting of a hexachord that can be reversed and inverted without altering its properties) is employed consistently throughout. The movement is intended as a metaphor for tightly argued rationality, and the loneliness that emerges when certitude - rather than connection - ecomes a primary value.

IV. Even the best weapon | Is an unhappy tool | Hateful to living things

The movement opens with a duet between the two violins, which present a veneer of civility beneath which a tempest rages. The hexachord in the previous movement returns in the first violin's stratospheric climax.

V. The Way in the World | Is as a stream to the valley | A river to the sea

This interlude-like elegy for string quartet is characterized by a sense of yearning. I have done my best to intuit my way through this movement, to allow the music to flow with only gentle, minimal guidance, so that its contours and cadences feel natural, gravity-bound: a river finding its way to the sea.

VI. Heavy is the root of the light | Still is the master of movement

In many ways the finale is the most conventional movement of the six: vigorous, dance-like rondo which references material from the previous movements. At the heart of the movement is a celebration of the paradoxical truths which inform so much of Taoist philosophy: to move with agility one must be still and centred, to be strong one must yield, to be at peace one must let go, and so on. The movement's joyous levity - both in terms of musical disposition and style (pop and film music idioms abound) - requires a solid, 'heavy' foundation of technical virtuosity to pull off!

Performances

• June 13, 2023 - Equinox Chamber Music. KoncertKirken Blågårds Plads, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Commissions and Awards

• Commissioned by Equinox Chamber Music with assistance from the Ontario Arts Council.