Beautiful Things

Each song of this work sets an essay from Beautiful Things, a collection of twenty-eight short essays by author Michelle Webster-Hein, first published in River Teeth Journal. According to Webster-Hein, the goal of each of these essays was “to pinpoint one beautiful thing each day and write a meditation that enabled me truly to see it.” I was drawn to her writings because, despite their brevity, each of the essays were filled with vivid imagery, insightful observations, and surprising thoughtfulness. The goal in composing each of these songs was to capture the depth of meaning conveyed in the text and to compose a beautiful musical thing, as it were, to reflect the essay. Since each song gives a singular view of a different topic, this set may be sung in any order or individual songs may be performed apart from the whole.-Paul David Thomas. Duration: 9:45