Doria

Doria

Duration: 6:38

Instrumentation: Choral (SSAATTBB), Fixed Electronics

Technical Specifications: .wav 48kHz stereo audio, HD 1080p video

Year: 2019

Performer: Soundstreams Ensemble 2021, Conductor: Gregory Oh

Based on the poem of the same name, Δώρια [Doria] by Ezra Pound, the piece seeks to examine the management of emotion during a battle with depression. Contrary to popular belief, depression often yields an absence of emotion rather than an intense sadness, and when experiencing this emotional numbness, one often wishes for a return of intense emotion unobtainable whilst depressed.

The piece seeks to convey these emotional rushes through an interplay between the chorus and the live electronics. Various sounds of nature connect to the desire to return to a balance inside one's mind, and a reconnection with the simple pleasures of life: The feel of wind or water upon your skin, or the warmth of the sun on your face.

Be in me as the eternal moods of the bleak wind,
and not As transient things are —

Have me in the strong loneliness of sunless cliffs
And of gray waters.

Let the gods speak softly of us
In days hereafter, the shadowy flowers of Orcus

Remember thee.