Duration: 3:00
Keys: A Major
Subcollection: piano pieces
Story sound clip: fire crackling
Main theme: descending third throughout the piece in the upper piano
With a title like "The Last Night of the World" one might expect the story to be devastating, gruesome, or tragic. This story is none of those things, but instead is quite serene and touching. I wanted to capture this same tranquility and acceptance in the music, and so turned to my piano and some musical techniques from my earlier compositions (like the What's to Come? album).
So my first goal was to write something with peace and beauty. My second goal was to encode in music one of the messages I took from the story -- that time is not always what you think and should not be taken for granted. Musically, then, I tried to write something that is smooth and flowing, but if you actually listen to or look at the time signatures they are a mess -- switching seemingly randomly from 3/4 to 4/4 to 2/4 and later on alternating between 4/4 and 3/8. Time is not always what you think.
As I was beginning to map out this album in the summer of 2004, I quickly realized that I would have two discs with nine stories on each disc. I was very pleased when I realized that "The Last Night of the World" and "The Rocket" would be my two closers because they are both beautifully serene stories about family and I could tell that they would make for satisfying finishes, musically. I later thought to link the two pieces even moreso than through mood, and I did this through their main themes. Since "The Rocket" was one of my foundational pieces for The Illustrated Man, I already had it in my head when I began to write "The Last Night of the World." So I naturally took the main theme from "The Rocket" and inverted it and I was well on my way to "The Last Night of the World."
<sheet music of main themes>
I also had Amanda Ingraham, when we were recording "The Rocket," play a few measures for this piece so that the oboe would be another linking mechanism between the two closing tracks. You can hear her at 1:56.
Ironically, the world ends simply with octave A's.
Tidbits
The oboe notes are based on the vocalization "Sammy loves Lainey, and Lukey loves Lainey, etc." which I used to sing to my niece while playing that section on piano.
The cymbal rolls were performed by Clayton Jewell and recorded at the Circle K Ranch in Rudyard, MI.
Composer Trademarks
(meter/phrasing change-up) all over the place
My Favorite Moments
The falling third at 1:55.
The rolling cymbal at 2:11 which reaches its peak not on, but after the downbeat.