Hymn Without Words

To Dale Jonathan Perkins

In early 2019, I was shocked to discover that my good friend, composer and educator Dale Jonathan Perkins, had suffered — but thankfully survived — a heart attack. During the slow months of his recovery, I found myself reflecting upon something that Dale — more than anyone — has taught me; it is possible to explore a never-ending series of new musical ideas without needing to restrain or compromise one’s own compositional voice.

In celebration of this idea, Hymn Without Words is dedicated to Dale, his music, and his aesthetic. It features extensive references (in both title and music) to Dale’s well-known cycle of works, Voice Without Words, particularly in terms of the establishment and disintegration of materials, relationships between pitch and distortion, voice and the absence of voice.

Hymn Without Words was realized in 2019 at the University of Sheffield Sound Studios (USSSUniversity of Sheffield Sound Studios) (UK) and premiered on April 27, 2019 during the Sound Junction festival in Sheffield.