Programme notes:

Daniel Nelson wrote Haunt as part of his final exam at the University of Chicago. This work, as well as some songs written at about the same time, has been described by the composer as necessary to his continued direction in and attitude towards composing. 'I started playing with the idea that all means are somehow of equal value and that the musical 'building blocks' are actually uninteresting until they are ordered in a situation or sequence of events. The medium of expression is in this case secondary to the expression of the music as a whole. At this time, it was a great relief when I understood that I could more easily express what I wanted with a sort of traditional tonality.' The title and inspiration for the piece’s dramaturgy come from W. H. Auden (Twelve Songs, No. 4): 'Dear, though the night be gone/Its dreams still Haunt today.' Nelson explains further: 'The past night and the dream which visits the now are represented in the music by two sorts of tonal centers, which are combined throughout the work. A few minutes before the end of the piece, they separate.' Tony Lundman (from PSCD 125) Translation: George Kentros Haunt was originally inspired by the first two lines of a W.H. Auden poem [Twelve Songs, no. 4]: "Dear, though the night is gone, Its dream still haunts to-day." Once again, it was not the subject matter of the poem which in and of itself was the inspirational source for an entire musical composition. Rather, there were several personal issues surrounding my day to day life which influenced my reading of the poem. In the end, my interpretation of these two lines of text had very little to do with the rest of the poem: W.H. Auden's poem is about a person who is lamenting a love which has been untrue, while Haunt is essentially concerned with a dream world which recounts time past as well as a physical world which signifies time present. In the beginning of the composition these two spaces of time are represented by contrasting musical moods which are continuously and abruptly alternating. Throughout the course of the work, as physical time passes, the two musical moods are increasingly melded together as if the dream was being assimilated in the present. By the end of the composition the two musical moods have become thoroughly integrated; just as one's past experiences are absorbed into the present. It is up to each listener to decide which musical mood signifies their present reality and which signifies their dreams of the past. Daniel Nelson