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Saunder Choi
Saunder Choi Music
Crown of Flames
Part of an ecological choral cycle on climate change, survival, adaptation, and renewal amidst the backdrop of wildfires and pyrophytic plants.
SSSAAATTTBBB a cappella
Crown of Flames is a captivating choral composition that delves into the themes of survival, adaptation, and renewal against the fiery backdrop of the natural world. Set to the poignant words of Brian Sonia-Wallace, this 12-part mixed choir a cappella piece explores the remarkable resilience of pyrophytic plants – these plants not only thrive in wildfires, they need them to survive. Inspired by the pressing issue of climate change and the haunting reality of Southern California’s seasonal infernos, ‘Crown of Flames’ offers a powerful metaphor for resilience and hope. This stirring work will ignite hearts and minds with its message of strength rising from the ashes.
Composer’s Notes
Crown of Flames is a work for 12-part mixed choir a cappella, and sets the text of Brian Sonia-Wallace on the themes of survival, adaptation, and renewal. Pyrophytes (from the Greek pyro = fire + phyte = plant) are plants that resist fire or even require it to propagate. Passive pyrophites have thick bark or insulating tissue, while active pyrophites produce flammable oils to help spread fires and so eliminate competing trees. The most extreme pyrophytes, knows as pyrophiles (“flame lovers”), require the extreme heat of fire for their seeds to start growing, breaking soil when all the surrounding vegetation and dead leaves have been burnt and they can access the forest floor’s scarcest resource — sunlight. Unlike forest birds and animals, which can flee fires, pyrophytic plants have adapted not only to withstand them, but to use them to their advantage.
The idea for this piece came about when Salvatore Diana approached me to write a work for The Salvatones’ spring concert on the topic of climate change. Both Brian and I live in Southern California, where we are subject to seasonal wildfires that trigger evacuations and cause massive destruction. Climate change creates an arid atmosphere that is warmer, drier, and prone to drought, which causes forest fires to be more active. Looking at the ways that native species have evolved through centuries to withstand fire, we thought this would be a perfect metaphor to deliver the message of resilience, adaptation, and renewal through destruction.
Crown of Flames is commissioned by The Salvatones for their “Many Sounds of Spring” concert.
-Saunder Choi
Text
I would run
but I am a forest
so I wait
while the long-tongued flame licks lost leaves.
I seal seeds in resin
that melts with heat
so after I am a burnt husk new pines that have lain dormant for decades
will sprout
through the ashes.
I would run
but I am a planet
so I wait
while ants tunnel & monkeys build rockets & fall in love
& everything burns
but not everything
is lost.
-Brian Sonia-Wallace
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