From the Symphonic Cycle

The orchestra tunes itself on a single note and the conductor appears bows and shows that the relation from his wand to the ensuing music is direct. The effect is comic. Let’s dance; the world is sentimental tonight, I whisper in your ear. If we were to attend to only the music and forget the hundred instruments, why, then the world would be in love. Actually we live in different cities, and you worry about money a hundred miles away. I am correcting student papers but every few minutes I get up as if the phone were ringing and think about you. The music gives a story about blood and lust, a story about infidelity and revenge. It mimics a hundred actions and passions of an army of a hundred voices which approaches and then anguishes as an ocean wave. We are two funny lovers to moan and sigh and giggle for hours on the phone to each other, and then the next evening alone to despair that you don’t love me anymore. 31 October 1982 San Diego