Promise

Oboe d’Amore, Piano, Cello, Trumpet, Strings, Woodwind, and Guitars.

 

·  From Words We Act  ·

You Have My Word

 

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A promise seems so simple to make, so easy to break, so much for those who believe, so far from the truth, so close to the heart, a promise is sometimes all we have that keeps us from tearing apart.

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Promise: at its best, something deeply intended with honesty and hope; a commitment to act or not to act; possessing a quality of expectation; an obligation.

I can make a promise, hear another's promise, or think someone or something has promise.

A promise may be made with the prospect of reward, or none. It may be conditional or unconditional.

There is no proof of a promise before its realization, which may never arrive.

A promise is an idea of significance about the future, and at times, believed in.

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I ponder on the quality of something holding promise: a flower, the sun, its early warmth, and the blue sky.

In the artwork above these things are only partially visible against the inanimate stone-coloured background. For me this image of nature holds the promise of life, warmth, and beauty. It reminds me of what, with patience and care, is certain to arise. As with a dear friend, with nature: no doubt, distrust, nor enmity will undermine its promise.

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The beauty of music and art is that it can stand for something. This may be an idea, or a feeling. Here in this music, it stands for my promise to be honest, and more, to think of another before myself.

For me, the waltz that begins and ends 'Promise' is the most optimistic of musical forms closely aligned with dance and celebration. As nature, the music moves as a friend through comfortable and uncertain lands. Its centre is more contemplative and plaintive, as hope often is. The piece in its entirety stands for a place where a promise finds its realization. It is tuneful, complex, full with contrast, and love.

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A full size extract from an inked etched smudged metal plate, together with the complete view of this more mysterious precursor to the art above follows.