Orchestral Works

Rachel's Dream

Music by Candace Forest 

Composer's Notes

This composition, inspired by Rachel Carson’s landmark book Silent Spring, came about when I was pondering just how it might have been that Rachel Carson, a writer and marine biologist, came to realize that the indiscriminate use of DDT and other pesticides were having a devastating effect on nature, especially on the birds, softening their shells and dooming their offspring. I imagined that perhaps it was the birds themselves who told her what was happening to them, coming to her in a dream ballet. It is my hope that the poignant beauty of the piece and its urgent message might inspire listeners to become more familiar with the many important books and articles by Rachel Carson and others and perhaps take steps themselves to become more actively involved in protecting the Earth and her creatures.

I came upon Silent Spring in 1990 while creating songs with Nancy Schimmel to educate children about environmental issues. Rachel's Dream was recorded as a duet with cellist Emil Miland on our 1994 award-winning lullaby CD, Speeney, Spawney, Go to the Moon, and we've performed it together in concert many times. An orchestral version of Rachel's Dream became the first piece of my Trilogy for the Endangered Species (which includes Into Thin Air and Out of Space, Out of Time) and received its world premiere with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in an Earth Day Family Concert in 2003 in Kleinhans Music Hall.

Emil Miland has championed this piece and I have created many different settings for cello that he has graciously and beautifully performed over the years. The first, a trio version for cello, horn and piano, was premiered in Cleveland, Ohio in 1998; followed by a trio for cello, oboe and piano premiered in March, 2017 by the Lowell Trio. A third trio for cello, harp and soprano was created in honor of Lou Harrison’s Centennial, celebrated in an Earth Day concert in 2017 at Harrison House in Joshua Tree.

Other versions include a cello quartet, which premiered in 2019, and a solo classical guitar arrangement created by Brazilian guitarist Tiberio Nascimento. I look forward to creating many more versions of this piece and hope it eventually appears regularly on orchestra programs celebrating the Earth while raising public awareness of the environmental crisis we currently face.

Available in the following arrangements:

  • Full Orchestra

  • Piano Solo

  • Piano/Cello Duet

  • Cello, Oboe, Piano Trio

  • Cello, Harp, Soprano Trio

  • Cello Quartet