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Dream Chasers

Pianist Heather Coltman has assembled a group of solo pieces by lesser-known American and Canadian composers to engage listeners in a musical exploration of the meditative mind. Each piece suggest the night world in title and tone, evoking images of dreaming, quiet and the moon and stars. Though the compilation generates and abundance of serene imagery, its overall mood hints at the complex nature of sleep and dreaming. A mother of three, Coltman began the project with children in mind, but shifted her focus when she discovered the gravitas that many composers explore through the genres of nocturnes and lullabies. Sleep is not always tranquil slumber within the comfort of a calming nightscape; just as children often fear the dark and the unknown, the wide blank space of night invites self-reflection for adults, perhaps compelling us to recognize the fragility of the world and the instability of life. The knowledge that we are not always completely secure in the outside world or in our own minds, even during slumber, can lead to restlessness and insomnia as we struggle to strike a balance between deluding ourselves about the world's dangers and ruminating obsessively over them.

In order to relax and ease into peaceful sleep, we must realize that we can only find safety, security, and tranquility in our dreams after acknowledging and coming to terms with the darker aspects of life. Coltman's selections reflect the brooding and even ominous side of sleep as well as the calm, comfort and relief traditionally associated with it. The pieces range from soothing to restless to foreboding, encompassing sleep's many moods and effects. When we close our eyes to the world each night and bury our head in soft pillows, it is not only an escape: it allow us to reach toward a deeper understanding of life. The music of Dream Chasers echoes the idea that sleep and dreaming as as much a way of discovering elements of life as they are a means of leaving the waking world behind.