Prelude; Henon; Gruneberg; Distance; Prelude

The initial idea from which this work spread was a short sequence of notes taken from a mapping of the Henon (chaos) differential equation onto pitch and duration. Certain themes in it suggested to me a piece, which developed into the current manifestation, although it has changed a great deal. The title is an echo of the well known quotation from Thoreau and the repetitive canon like structure of this differential equation. The work is in three movements, the second and third played without a break, with an introductory and closing fanfare.

I've been working on a sound track for a movie that has yet to be made about the Donner Party. This work is in support of the scene when the Donner's are told that they basically have to hack their own path through the Wasatch Mountains, since their guide, Hastings, is a fraud. The shortcut they were enticed to take, the Hastings Cutoff, is bogus. They are told to send someone ahead for further instructions while the main party is to wait until they get back.