A Garden of Weeds

Inspired by a quote from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale Thumbelina: "The witch smiled and returned to her garden of weeds," this piece is an attempt to reconcile and contrast the imagery of the pleasant and not-so-pleasant and explore the challenge of something ugly being framed as beautiful. It is a programmatic attempt at a reverse chronological soundtrack as to what the Garden of Eden may look like if stumbled across today: A Garden of Weeds. Starting with the listener in the present, we find the neglected and forgotten ruins, with brief moments that hint to its former state and then slip backwards. We visit a garden beginning to be overrun with thorns, weeds, and occasional serpents, and then travel all the way back to before the fall of paradise. The piece then moves forward with the temptation, his and her apple bites, unsuccessful hiding, and the inevitable consequences. Finally, the famous eviction with the gates slamming shut on the resolution of the final impact.