Today I was working on alternate fingerings for the second song in Tippett’s Songs of Achilles and it was raining outside.

it is the rain and it smells of christening; it is the rain and it tastes of silver

Transported in an instant to the first time working on these songs in humidity and the rain indoors with loud dehumidifiers in the background; bins filled with ice and Sam Adams Boston Ale; a 14 year old in the passenger seat of a pickup truck in town yelling “NICE PANTS” at my overly European slim cut trousers; pickleback shots with the tenor and photographer screaming our (utterly inaccurate) rendition of Achilles’ war cry in the streets.

Of course tastes are a powerful stimulant for memory; but music also.