“This City Was Once an Ocean (2022–23) is a product of the age of climate anxiety—or, perhaps more relevantly, climate nihilism. The work unfolds like a dream (or a premonition) of the polar ice caps melting, thus allowing the ocean to cover the planet as it may have done billions of years ago. Although this is an apocalyptic event for the human species, the earth is ultimately indifferent to our survival.

The piece is set in seven brief interconnected movements that are constructed out of three distinct but related materials. The first, which opens the work in “Water,” is a primal and volatile depiction of the ocean. Next, in “Light,” the metallic colors of the glockenspiel and the celesta create a kaleidoscopic texture suggestive of rays of sunlight. Finally, in “Ice,” the Water material is transformed into a static configuration that evokes the crystalline structure and awesome size of a glacier. The fourth, fifth, and seventh movements are comprised of each of the possible pairs of these materials. At the climax in the sixth movement, Water, Light, and Ice come into conflict as though fighting for dominance. Ice is ultimately obliterated, and at the end of the piece, Water returns to its initial state while Light remains obstinately at its zenith.”