Star Maker Suite
New arrangement; words by Olaf Stapledon
Performed by TAK Ensemble (Ensemble), Laura Barger (Piano & synthesizer)
Star Maker Suite is an abbreviated version of Star Maker Fragments, written for TAK ensemble in 2019–2020, setting text derived from Olaf Stapledon’s 1937 novel Star Maker; the Suite was completed for UCMF 2025. About 25 minutes of continuous music whose movements flow seamlessly from one to the next, it follows the journey of a person from earth who becomes disembodied and shoots out into the stars — observing other planets and life forms, coming to understand the relationship between worlds, stars and dimensions, before returning to earth with a renewed sense of meaning. The text, written on the eve of World War II, is largely allegorical, presenting a pacifist conception of society and the ideal of cooperation and empathy; it is mostly spoken, and the piece vacillates between concert music, electronics and radio drama.