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Programme Note

First Performance:
October 1, 2011
Trio Mediaeval
Norwegian Radio Orchestra
Oslo, Norway

Composer note:
I wanted to make a piece about the inner thought process of a person who is not sure how, or why, to live. To do this I needed a text that felt like a litany of questions and statements and possibilities for self exploration, and I hit upon the idea of making the text out of an internet search. The libretto for this piece is made up entirely from the results of an internet search of the phrase AND I WILL MAKE IT, setting to music every iteration of that phrase plus whatever words follow it, in the order in which it appeared in the search — that day, that very moment: "and I will make it, and I will make it waste, and I will make it fit, and I will make it snow, and I will make it proud, etc...." The weight of these statements accumulates until it begins to feel like the story of a single person, convincing himself or herself that life is worth living.

— David Lang