Written in 2012

for Baritone and Piano

Duration: 4:00 min.

Text: A Song of Indecision (traditional Chippewa)

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Program Notes:

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The text for A Song of Indecision is taken from a Chippewa song of the same title. The singer faces a dilemma: whether he should listen to his friends' entreaties to join their war party, or whether he should stay home because of the sorrow others might experience if he were to die in the war. The structure of the original poem makes it difficult to tell whether or not the singer is convinced of a decision by the idea of his wife weeping for him. By the way I repeated and placed the different phrases of text, my composition favours one interpretation over the other.
 

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