Spirit-Sign is a work for solo trumpet and soundscape, commissioned by Aaron Kahn and premiered at the 2016 Oregon Bach Festival and Britt Festival at Crater Lake. The piece ebbs and flows from meditative gestures into bursts of virtuosic brilliance, drawing its musical language from the song of the hermit thrush, whose haunting calls begin with a solitary whistled prelude before blossoming into shimmering arpeggiated flourishes. Singing alone from high perches at twilight, the thrush has inspired generations of artists and storytellers, from the poetry of Walt Whitman to the piano music of Amy Beach, while the Koyukon people of Alaska call the bird Nah-thul-ee-che—”a sign that spirit is received.”
I commissioned Justin to compose this work after reading Hermann Hesse’s Narcissus and Goldmund. The dual archetypes of the Dionysian (embodied in Goldmund) and the Apollonian (embodied in Narcissus) offer a pathway to the depths of the masculine psyche—a stable, calm, and spacious nondual state. Reaching that state, however, requires a journey of ebb and flow: peaks and valleys, revelations and descents, the shifting landscapes of the Hero’s Journey. At its heart lies the call of the wild (including representations of many different fauna), a centering, primordial élan vital—the life-force of the generative man. This music chronicles that archetypal journey.
Below are excerpts from the two pieces from the Kairos album with Austin Kourakin (Ableton) and Sequoia (piano).
Dive into the ethereal realms of “Kairos,” the debut album from Anamnesis, released on April 17, 2024. Kairos’ is a sonic adventure into the land of completely improvised ambient soundscapes, blending the ethereal beauty of electronic synths with soulful trumpeting and pianos. Kairos, derived from Ancient Greek philosophy and theosophy, is a propitious or opportune moment, a time of great significance and spiritual fulfillment.
Spanning just two tracks, this album invites listeners on a profound auditory expedition. The first piece, “Mellow New World,” is a play on “Brave New World.” Aldous Huxley’s famous dystopian novel is, in fact, a use of rhetorical irony, as “Brave New World” comes from a line Miranda speaks in Shakespeare’s The Tempest when she encounters the awe of humanity for the first time outside the context of her isolation with her father, Prospero. Anamnesis inverts the meaning so the dystopian becomes the utopian, music representative of calm, gentleness, and the exploration into the eudaimonic. “Mellow New World” is designed to inspire awe in a way that enables the optimization of the parasympathetic nervous system, drawing on nuanced musical devices and energetic, improvisatory interplay to soothe the mind, body, and spirit.
The second piece, “Off to the Races,” evokes a horse – perhaps a stallion – being freed to run in its quintessentially passionate and driven way, the way only skilled equestrians can understand, intuitively and kinesthetically. From a spiritual perspective, the horse was also inspired by the Tibetan Buddhist concept of “windhorse” (རླུང་རྟ་) which connotes essence, vitality, forward motion, and good fortune. It is energizing in nature and is designed to inspire propitious action.
This album was crafted with love and intention by seasoned classical musicians—Aaron Kahn on trumpet and Sequoia on piano. Austin Kourakin serves as a multi-instrumentalist and skilled Ableton producer.
Kairos is sonic medicine made for whoever may need a musical elixir, and is particularly designed for rest, healing, energy, and revitalization. This album emerged from a spark of inspiration during the quiet introspection brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic—urging the listener toward more profound, resonant engagement with music and life itself. Kairos is a time that God – however you understand this concept – has chosen to act, through you, through us, through music.
Kairos was recorded at the prestigious Big Red Studio in Portland, Oregon. It is an invitation to pause, listen, and connect with the deeper currents of life. It is for both listeners who have an affinity for sound journeys and all who desire healing and transformation. Take a journey into the heart with us on this unique musical voyage with sounds from the earth and the heavens.
This is the first movement from internationally-renowned, Grammy-nominated composer Poul Ruder’s Reveille-Retraite, written for Swedish trumpet virtuoso Håkan Hardenberger.
The video is from the concert I gave in the heart of the Oregon forest at Hoyt Arboretum, sponsored by the Regional Arts and Culture Council. A new solo trumpet commission by PNW-based composer Justin Ralls.
The video is from the concert I gave in the heart of the Oregon forest at Hoyt Arboretum, sponsored by the Regional Arts and Culture Council. A new solo trumpet commission by PNW-based composer Justin Ralls.
Want to learn more about these recordings? If so please visit my Project page linked here!