Instrumentation: Solo Piano
Duration: 10 minutes
Year: 2025
Program Notes
Wild Skies is a tribute to the boundless horizon and shifting clouds that stretch over the Canadian Prairies. Pianist Tong Wang and I share a deep connection to this landscape: both of us spent formative years in Alberta, and though our paths later took us elsewhere, the Prairies has continued to call us back. When Tong invited me to write this piece, the prospect of drawing inspiration from our shared environment made complete sense.
My own journey with the Prairies deepened in the summer of 2025, when I moved to Saskatoon to begin a new chapter of teaching and composing. Saskatchewan revealed a sky even vaster than Alberta’s, like an immense, unbroken expanse where the land elides into the sky. Tiny houses and trees punctuate the horizon, yet it is the sky that dominates my view and imagination.
The title Wild Skies emerged early during an early period of improvisation that shaped the free-flowing structure of the work. I was drawn to the organic movement of clouds which are repetitive, yet never the same. Watching them is like gazing upon a living canvas, a natural artwork that continually transforms. Psalm 19:1 was also a point of inspiration: “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” In this piece, I attempt to convey that sense of wonder, awe and reverence that inspires me every day.
Musically, the work begins with a single low E that gradually evolves into a sonic gesture enveloping the full register of the piano, evoking clouds forming on the horizon. Free, amorphous textures evolve into more rhythmic and motoric passages, mirroring the sensation of watching skies pass by through a car window. Motion gathers energy as clouds thicken, surging into upward arpeggios and imitative figures that crest in a storm-like arrival before dissolving back into stillness. Like the sky itself, each section flows organically into the next and are connected through shared tones, textures, and rhythmic impulses.
I am deeply grateful to Tong Wang for commissioning this work and to the Gerda Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Launch Grant for their generous support.
Score Sample
Roydon Tse 