Journey to Arcadia: Part 2

The Forest in Winter at Sunset by Théodore Rousseau (1845)

Coming home from The Met, the next step was to choose an image and start creating. Seeing as how I’ve always loved darker themes, I started with The Forest in Winter at Sunset by Théodore Rousseau.

This was a huge canvas, with a monumental forest scene. The tangled web of trees, not a leaf in sight and bathed in deep colors, conveyed a sense of awe and foreboding. This was amplified by the presence of two human figures, dwarfed by the scale of the trees around them. They seemed to be lost in these endless woods.

Music started flowing as soon as I sat down in my studio. In short order, I created a bed of notes using a breathy church organ, a flute-like synth sound, and a piano with the soft pedal pressed down. The effect was almost hypnotic. As the music very slowly built up, I added some distant bell tones using a celesta. After working on this for a while, I set it aside to let the ideas marinate, and moved on to the next image.

The Farrier by Aert van der Neer (c.1650)

The Farrier by Aert van der Neer was calling to me, with its cool glowing moon offset by the warm light of a nearby bonfire. I loved the stillness and solitude that this painting expressed, and again used a pipe organ and a synthesizer to create a gently repeating motif. I imagined the farrier patiently forging a horse shoe, and then carefully fitting it onto the hoof of his horse.

Just like the first piece, I set this aside to let it age like fine wine.

Twilight on the Sound by Thomas Kensett (1872)

To finish up this studio session, I felt like I had to work on Thomas Kensett's beautiful Twilight on the Sound. To begin building the musical canvas, I chose a quiet pipe organ to express the pale yellow and orange sky, and then a sustained viola for the layer of pink light that glowed on the horizon. After setting the scene, I used a simple arpeggio on the piano to express the water and the trees. The resulting effect was both serene and slightly sad, almost as if to lament the passing of another day.

As I studied the different shades of light and their reflections on the water, I noticed an interesting parallel between these three images that I had chosen: each of them was a nature scene in which tiny human figures could be seen, seemingly engulfed by their surroundings. They each had a human element, rather than simply being landscapes.

This got me thinking: what if this album wasn't a purely "ambient" affair?

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