Dreams and Nightmares (2022) - Ethan Soledad [Score Video]

For pierrot ensemble. Commissioned by the 2022 Impulse New Music Festival for the Brightwork Ensemble. Sarah Wass, flute Brian Walsh, clarinet Shalini Vijayan, violin Joo Lee, cello Aron Kallay, piano Program Notes Whenever I hear the word nightmare, I often associate it with being chased around by demons or being part of some kind of wild apocalyptic scenario, but the nightmares that I find the most impactful are the ones closest to reality. The nightmare represented in this piece is not that of monsters but more of remembering or reliving something terrible that happened to you. The culmination of this nightmare is represented in the climax towards the end of the piece, followed by the thunderous chords in the piano and the aching swells played by the flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. The wistful chords arpeggiated by the piano at the very end are to represent finally waking up and finding solace in knowing that the dream was just a dream, the past is just the past, and it’