An Impossible Conversation (2026)
for Flute, Cello, Piano 14'
I. Before We Met
II. Movement
III. Lullaby
IV. Interruptions
V. Lullaby (Second Attempt)
VI. Hello
II. Movement
III. Lullaby
IV. Interruptions
V. Lullaby (Second Attempt)
VI. Hello
Commissioned by Music from Angel Fire as the 2026 Composer-in-Residence.
An Impossible Conversation is dedicated to my unborn son, written in anticipation of his birth. The piece imagines a series of exchanges between expectant parents and the child they have not yet met: what he might hear, what he might feel, and how his journey toward us begins to merge with our own journey toward him.
Across six movements, the music passes through motion, interruption, lullaby, uncertainty, and waiting. Voices reach toward one another without quite knowing how—or whether—they can be heard. Gradually, that imagined conversation moves toward something real: the moment when anticipation gives way to arrival, and the unanswered questions become a first hello.
And then: yup, he’s definitely here.
—Michael Stephen Brown (2026)