Says the Man Who Jumped Off the Empire State Building

for orchestra, arr. for chamber orchestra (2019)
Duration: 8’

One must be willing to take “leaps of faith”. Some of the best decisions I’ve ever made must have seemed downright foolhardy at their outset. But skeptic that I am, trusting in blind faith feels irrational and unnatural. An impending sense of doom almost always underlies the optimistic mindset I must adopt to take risks. The feeling reminds me of the old joke about the optimist falling from a tall building, who called “So far so good!” as he passed by each story. 

This is how Says the Man Who Jumped off the Empire State Building came to be.  It deals with the contradictory experiences of such a brazen risk-taker: there are moments of exhilaration and enthusiasm, underscored by a fatalistic sense of dread. At times, one gets the sense that, having been falling for so long without crashing to the ground, perhaps the man will not crash at all — perhaps he will miraculously land safely. Far more likely, it’s just a really tall building. 

Says the Man was originally written for full orchestra at Brevard Music Center’s 2019 Institute. It was subsequently arranged for chamber orchestra and premiered by the HELIX! New Music Ensemble at Rutgers University, conducted by Kraig Alan Williams. This recording can be found below: