Some treasures are heavy with human tears

The story of this work begins with a tragedy, but that's not where it ends. Although it commemorates a specific catastrophe, the piece is not programmatic. Instead, it's a meditation on grief, transcending elegizing a singular horrific event and instead representing how we cope with all tragedies. Beginning with the peacefulness of a lullaby, the piece takes a simple motive and transports it through a series of emotions that include denial, shock, fury, and anguish before finding acceptance. Throughout, conflicting harmonies present an internal turbulence that peaks in a climactic wail of agony bordering on rage. Although the ending projects a return to peace, it is left incomplete with the final gesture of a single muted trumpet rising from the silence in a bright flash only to be suddenly extinguished. - from program notes by Jacob Wallace