The natural beauty of California, especially the coast, has always been an inspiration to me. At any given moment you can find the suggestion of utopia around the corner on the Pacific Coast Highway – a mountain vista, a state park, the wind from the ocean, a farmer’s market, a festival where people can be connected in friendly chaos … even some miraculous respites from traffic, which is certainly utopian. Some of this is hopefully reflected in the music on this recording. And you’re in luck: musical thoughts about mad-made pollution and natural disasters in these utopias will be saved for another time.

California Concertino was originally written for the brilliant Los Angeles flutist Sara Andon. I’m grateful to our Hollywood musicians and conductor Scott Hosfeld for getting it together without any rehearsal, as is the usual case in their day gig as studio players.

The first movement reflects a sense of wonder at the above-mentioned natural utopias. The second movement is a highly restless scherzo. It is navigated by Sara and the orchestra with great precision on their respective rhythmic tightropes. This is followed by an enigmatic central movement with some references to the first. Next is a little Hollywood directness, a wistful thought on lost love. I’m an unabashed tunesmith, and the tune in this movement is something I actually wrote for a film many years ago. The last movement is a memory of a lively, if anxious, day going up and down the busy hills of San Francisco as the trolleys whizzed by in kaleidoscope fashion.