Chapter One, Page One

for solo flute or soprano saxophone and electronics
commissioned by Daniel Buscher

Chapter One, Page One (2008) is a celebration of Henry Miller’s unique and often controversial literary works. Expatriating himself from the American mainstream culture of mediocrity and resignation, Miller’s anti-capitalist, anti-nationalist, and anti-puritan views border somewhere between nihilism and eastern philosophy.  The text used in the piece (spoken and sung by the flautist/saxphonist) comes from a short excerpt of Miller’s landmark Tropic of Cancer :

It is now the fall of my second year in Paris.
I was sent here for a reason I have not yet been able to fathom.
I have no money, no resources, no hope.
I am the happiest man alive.