Instrumentation: violin, cello, piano, percussion: (crash cymbal, 2 ride cymbals, 2 china cymbals)
Duration: 9:00 min
Commissioned by: Human Body Expressions
Composition date: 2021
Arrangement date: 2025
World Premiere: Feb 15th, 2025 by Array Ensemble
Program Notes
Ambient song was commissioned by Hanna Kiel (Human Body Expressions) dance company for a longer film project called “Again” which featured various songs by France Miller and I. This was back in 2021 in the midst of the pandemic where individual isolation was enforced and there was a lot of unknown regarding the end of the pandemic and the spread of the virus. At the same time I was a new parent and this major shift in my reality was also putting me in a new heightened emotional state I had never known.
This work simply titled Ambient Song was largely composed improvisationally one cold winter night in my basement studio under the pressures of a tight deadline and parental responsibilities. In fact the ending is transcribed exactly as it was first improvised that night on my piano. I think of this composition as one of my most free-flowing and in-the-moment works. Originally it was never written on paper as notation but in February 2025 I was asked to make a new arrangement for Array Ensemble and their wonderful musicians.
The work takes the listener on a journey of transformation from dark to light. My compositional style in this piece is minimalistic with the repetition of gestures over and over again while the supporting elements slowly shift underneath. I was thinking of physical human movement a lot in these musical gestures and that certainly influenced the shape of the musical lines.
Pouya Hamidi, 2025.
