Mark Arnest was arts writer for the Colorado Springs Gazette for 15 years, writing over 2,000 articles and earning recognition three times from the American Association of Sunday and Features Editor: second place in 2008, first place in 2002 and honorable mention in 1999. His first love, however, is composition. Previous works include Pike’s Dream, a one-act opera about Zebulon Pike’s 1806 western expedition, which won an award from the Pikes Peak Arts Council; Theme and Meditations, premiered by The Chamber Orchestra of the Springs; and All About Love, a musical adaptation of Plato's Symposium co-written with Lauren Arnest and Murray Ross and premiered by University of Colorado-Colorado Springs TheatreWorks. He and Lauren are currently working on Iron & Gold, a musical about railroads, robber barons, and labor in 19th Century America. Mark also plays the piano, reaching the semifinals of the Rocky Mountain Amateur Piano Competition in 2002 and 2004.
Towards the Garden was commissioned by the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the giving of the Garden of the Gods to the city of Colorado Springs by the children of Charles Elliott Perkins. In the composer’s own words, “Since I spent many youthful days lolling indolently in this geologic wonder, it was especially meaningful to have an opportunity to write about it.
“The piece does not necessarily record my impressions of the garden, however. Instead, the form is a loose geological history of the garden, from primeval sea (the Paleolithic ocean was very different than La Mer), through the uplift that shed the waters, to some impressions of the land, and finally, to a glimpse at the sky. The climax rolls the various themes together, attempting to give some sense of the continuity - and unity - of past and present.
“Every composition is a different solution to the challenge of making sense out of time. About 80 percent of Pike’s Dream was based on a single theme. In contrast, Towards the Garden has numerous themes, but is based on a handful of chords, all of which share a few common traits: Four notes, within the boundary of a perfect 4th or 5th, containing a minor 2nd, a major 2nd, and a major 3rd. In the first and fourth movements, the harmony adheres to these chords, but the melody it treated relatively freely. The fifth movement reverses this, with melodic motifs derived from the chords, but more harmonic freedom. And in the second and third movements, both melody and harmony adhere fairly strictly to the chordal structure. (But I was not dogmatic.)
“Towards the Garden is gratefully dedicated to Thomas Wilson and the Chamber Orchestra of the Springs.”