Interview with Sarah Hersh (Part 3)

For the past few days we’ve been sharing an interview with Sarah Hersh. After much anticipation, here’s your exclusive Diagenesis blog sneak peek into the piece Sarah Hersh wrote for us!

Diagenesis: What’s your inspiration for the piece that you are writing for us?
Sarah: When I first started writing the piece I was thinking a lot about Sondheim. I love his music (Sweeney Todd in particular) and the way he sets text and uses language, so I wanted to try to use some of what I like about his music in this piece. I'm not sure if any of that actually comes through (which is fine), but it helps me to think about him sometimes.
    As far as inspiration... I guess the text is what inspires me, and the ideas behind it. Some of it seems sort of sad to me, so I'm trying to embrace that while not letting it be too depressing. And as with most of my music, I'm trying to have fun with it (and have the piece itself be fun).

Diagenesis: Where did you find the text you’re setting?  Why did you choose it?
Sarah: My sister, Julie Hersh, wrote the text. When you first asked me to write this piece for you I immediately asked her if she had anything that might work. I love her writing and I thought it would be fun to work with her. The piece is in three movements, and it sort of all grows out of the text for the third movement, which was something she had written before based on a dream she had. The texts for the first two movements are new poems she wrote specifically for this project.

Diagenesis: We’re so lucky!! How would you describe the piece?
Sarah: It's a strange, dreamlike series of thoughts and ideas. Parts of it are kind of creepy and mysterious, and other parts (I hope) are more playful and fun.  Because the third movement is based on a dream, I’m trying to make the music feel sort of dreamlike. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it makes sense and it’s not quite clear how ideas fit together or grow out of each other, but at the same time it does make sense. It’s similar to how dreams feel logical even though when you wake up and try to explain them they really aren’t. It’s dream-logic. I don’t know if that actually comes through in the piece, but I’m working on it and trying to make it coherent as well!
    It's also somewhat autobiographical (for both my sister and me, although the text obviously is based on how she sees me), about us and where we are in our lives.

Excited? Is your interest piqued? I know we’re excited!
Next, Sarah shares other exciting projects in her life.