This suite is a musical homage to the landscape and geography of Minnesota, my home from 2012 to 2023. Each movement captures a distinct facet of the state’s natural grandeur, from its towering forests to its legendary waters.

I. Pinus resinosa

Taking its title from the scientific name for the Red Pine (Minnesota's state tree), this movement depicts the dense, ancient forests of the North. The music mimics a journey through thick, tangled vegetation, eventually expanding to reveal the towering majesty of these storied evergreens.

II. And Still, She Calls

The title refers to a poem by Minnesota native Melissa Richards:

 Her waters are legendary, holding the unwary who spill

from their ships, unaware of her power. And yet this Superior lake,

when days are warm and sunsets, late, sends a powerful call.

Wise voices say, stay ashore; so we stop to breathe

wave freshened air and listen for hawk, and owl, and bee.

Her wisdom, drawn from sources unseen by this day's eye,

is clearly there in faint paths, rustling grass, white topped swells

as fearsome as when native men walked her shores and braved her waters.

Governments change but she does not.

Unafraid to be herself, her sad, beautiful history is known

by wild tales told around campfires to impressionable youths,

though many of her own ancient voices have been lost -

lost in the sound of wave and bird;

lost to the sounds of progress.

And still, she calls.

And still, we come.

This movement evokes the spirit of Lake Superior and the state's famous 10,000 lakes. Shimmering, liquid textures open into a vast sonic horizon, suggesting the oceanic scale of the Great Lakes. A contrasting middle section offers a more intimate and mysterious glimpse of a small, inland lake before the expansive "Superior" theme returns to close the movement.

III. Lily of the West

Dedicated to the Minnesota prairies, this movement draws inspiration from the pioneer song "Lovely Minnesoty." The melody is derived from a 1950s recording of Ezra “Fuzzy” Barhight, with lyrics dating back to the Saint Peter Courier of 1857. The movement begins with a poignant, solitary clarinet solo—presenting the folk tune in its simplest form—before erupting into an exuberant finale that celebrates the spirit of the Western plains.