This moment seems an apt occasion for sharing the only work I have written that explores the effects of momentous current events upon an individual: my rhapsody for cello and orchestra titled, “World Enough and Time.”

The orchestra delineates large, intense events, sometimes sorrowful, sometimes rapturous, sometimes inspiring and worryingly extravagant, like revolutionaries initially espousing high ideals.

The cello, a single voice swept along on a vast tide, responds to the events, never controlling them. The cellist’s journey is like that of a hiker on a path through a forest of gigantic trees that sway, sometimes violently, as the weather swings between extremes of storm and calm.

The work ends with the cellist expressing a frightened hope -- fragile, tentative, doubt ridden -- a hope infused with dread, shared by millions on this last Sunday morning of election season, perhaps on the brink of violent unrest.

“And one was safe and asleep in his bed
Who at the bridge would be first to fall,
Who that day would be lying dead,
Pierced by a British musket-ball.”

To hear the work in the version scored for cello and piano, beautifully brought to life by cellist Yoonie Choi and pianist Phil Amalong, click on the link above.

To see a PDF of the score, click on the link above.

I must credit my friend, the great cellist Terry King, who helped me enormously by offering numerous suggestions pertaining to the cello writing in this score. Without his help, this work would not be among my best; it would be a pale shadow of what it is.

🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶 🎶

A choreographer friend of mine said, “We mark the world in a good way, even if our markings endure only for a short while.”

She reminds us that everything we’ve created -- choreographers, composers, the entire human race -- will endure “only for a short while.”

“The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve,
And … leave not a rack behind.”

Calculating the odds of duration is at odds with the artistic creation. When I begin to write a new piece, I never consider whether or not the music I am writing will “belong to the ages.”

When I am deep into the work, when a potent idea is making its way forward, I am taken to another place, a realm where time stands still and “the artifices of fashion, business, politics” are far away and of no consequence.

In the end, the only important thing is whether or not there is “truth” in what we do. If there isn’t, then the heck with it. And if there is, well, Truth endures, however many manifestations of it may come and go. There are lost masterworks beyond number, but the Thing those masterworks celebrated remains with us yet and always will.

My, but I am wistful this morning. I feel like Prospero making his farewell.. Something of that same valedictory feeling pervades my rhapsody for cello and orchestra titled, “World Enough and Time.”

The orchestra delineates the larger world, bristling with intense current events that are sometimes sorrowful, sometimes rapturous, sometimes inspiring and extravagant, sometimes menacing and powerful, like revolutionaries initially espousing high ideals, soon to betray them.

The cello, by contrast, is a single voice swept along on a vast tide, responding to the events, never controlling them. The cellist’s journey is like that of a hiker on a path through a forest of gigantic trees that sway, sometimes violently, as the weather swings between extremes of storm and calm.

The work ends with the cellist expressing a fragile, almost forlorn hopefulness, infused with dread, but not quite despair. It’s a good piece for this moment in America.

To hear “World Enough and Time” in the version scored for cello and piano, beautifully brought to life by cellist Yoonie Choi and pianist Phil Amalong, click on the link above. There's also a link to a PDF of the score.

Great thanks are due from me to my friend of four and a half decades, the great cellist, teacher and musicologist Terry King, who helped me enormously by offering numerous suggestions pertaining to the cello writing in this score. Without his help, this work would not be among my best; it would be a pale shadow of what it is. It was also Terry who gave the work its premiere performance with an orchestra in Monroe, Louisiana. Thank you, Terry!

I'd love to hear from you, to know what you think of this music and what I wrote about it. But don't feel obligated. I just like to share my life's work in this way with anyone who is interested.

Anyone can be on my little list of recipients for these weekly emails. To sign up, people should email me at rick@sowash.com, sending just one word: "Yes." I'll know what it means.

Rick Sowash
Cincinnati, OH
May 25, 2025