DESCRIPTION:
Daniel Ang: In Pursuit of Feeling for 16 instruments. Performed in Buckley Recital Hall, Amherst College, Amherst, MA on 8 February 2015, conducted by Mark Swanson.

I. Skeptical Interruptions

In Pursuit of Feeling depicts an exhilarating journey of 16 instruments who begin a united quest to “pursue feeling”, that is, to search and find the most authentic and genuine expression in their beings. The quest is fraught with rough patches, tense moments of animosity, and bitter disagreements. The string quartet decides to rebel, disrupting attempts to achieve unity and eventually causing a musical catastrophe in the third movement, Forlorn Journeys. Little by little, however, their antagonism is neutralized, the ensemble gradually gains back its footing, and by the last movement it has attained some sort of Pyrrhic victory, finally reaching the genuine expression that they were all looking for, but not without wounds.

Program notes available at https://www.scribd.com/doc/255792012/Program-Notes-for-In-Pursuit-of-Feeling-by-Daniel-Ang