Mind Fields op. 5

Description: Mind Fields was first performed in a concert version in Boston on May 7, 1996 in the New England Conservatory’s Brown Hall by members of the NEC Symphony Orchestra, James Klein narrating. This work is a multimedia ballet based on the fiction of American writer Harlan Ellison and Polish surrealist painter Jacek Yerka. The book came about when Ellison was asked by publisher Morpheus International to write an introduction for a collection of works by Yerka they were going to release. Ellison liked the painting so much he offered to write a short story for each painting. I bought a copy of Mind Fields (along with Mephisto in Onyx) in Houston the summer of 1994 just before moving to Boston. The idea to have a score and choreography to carry this interpretive process further hit me after reading the first paragraph of the first story. The original orchestration (1996) was much smaller: 2111 2210. 2perc., hp., pn./cel/synth., strgs., nar. The current orchestration represents the final version.

Stories included in this suite are I. Please Don't Slam the Door II. Back to Nature III. Attack at Dawn IV. Susan V. In the Oligocenskie Gardens. A second suite is planned which will use the stories The Creation of Water, The Agitators, Fever, Truancy at the Pond, The Silence, and Afternoon with the Bros. Grimm.

Mind Fields was first performed by James Klein, narrator & members of the New England Conservatory Symphony Orchestra on May 7, 1996 Brown Hall at the New England Conservatory, Boston and presented by arrangement with Morpheus International.