California Nocturnes (2017)

Orchestra

  • 13 minutes

Note

I: Mists,   II: Freeways,   III: Sequoia

California Nocturnes, a love letter to the west coast, is a three-movement fantasy of sorts. A kind of psychedelic tone poem, each movement seeks to illuminate the imaginative colors and sounds teaming with each scene. An eerie and brooding shroud of fog lurking on the coast; a darkened forest that springs to life, teaming with all manner of imaginary creatures; and even a bustling maze of interlocking highways, with machines whizzing by. As is customary with Nocturnes, California Nocturnes exists in the hours near half-light, where the lines of reality and fantasy blur, to become something odd entirely.

Written under the tutelage of Mason Bates, this piece is Taylor's graduate thesis piece from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and was awarded second place in the prestigious Highsmith Orchestral Composition Competition.

Score