Program Note:

In the middle of writing this piece, looking perhaps for some inspiration, I punched And Into the Fire into DALL-E, an image generating AI that had been making waves.  Out came a series of striking images, each oddly convincing in its own way, ranging from surreal to abstract to hyperreal. It didn’t help one bit with the music, but it produced an unshakable feeling of standing at the cusp of a generational leap forward.

I had already decided on this phrase, “And Into the Fire,” as the title of my piece for purely musical reasons, coming from its tendency to hover momentarily in a heightened state of suspension before exploding into a fiery outburst. But in this moment, I appreciated the phrase as a parallel for our future with generative AI, which I fully expect to transform society in ways we cannot yet imagine. For better or worse, there is no going back.

The piece is in one movement comprised of three distinct sections following a familiar fast-slow-fast trajectory. The first section is full of energetic, contrapuntal figurations, shifting through many moods but never quite settling into one for long. This elides into a sharply contrasting slow section, suspended in time with string harmonic textures framing expressive woodwind solos. Just as the energy reaches its lowest point, a propulsive ostinato launches the music into a breathless final movement which maintains its forward momentum through the final note. 

When I sat down many months later to write this program note, I figured it would only be appropriate to ask ChatGPT for help. The result was useless (for now), but it did seem to think that “Overall, And Into the Fire is a masterpiece of musical storytelling that is sure to leave a lasting impression on any audience.”  Who am I to argue?