Cast Out of Iron

For SATB choir. Duration - 5 minutes. 

Text by the composer:

I’ve been cast out of iron;
I’ve been blackened by fire;
I’m rusted and worn;
The heat gets to me.

Program Note:

As I get older and find myself nearing the end of my twenties, it has struck me how much less insulated I am to the sorrowful side of life – grandparents arrive at their dotage or death; parents are found to be distressingly fallible and human, just like myself; friends have troubles unforeseen and undeserved. We find ourselves subjected to repeated and overlaid stresses that never have clear or finite resolutions.

Cast iron is a metal that is durable but brittle. It can stand up to great pressure, but just too much pressure and it breaks. As human beings, we too are constantly under stress and trial. For each of us, how much is too much? Where is the tipping point between pressure that strengthens and seasons, and that which breaks?

Commissioned by the Wicker Park Choral Singers.