A quick post this morning: I’ve been listening to the sunflower waltz over and over. It’s gotten to the point that I need to take a break from it and come back later with fresher ears.

But that won’t stop you from listening to it. Here’s an mp3 file of the sunflower waltz, as of 2/24. You will hear the thing start to peter out after the second climax, as the orchestra gets to the “counted the steps of the sun” line.

In case you’re wondering, as I was most of last night, how I’m going to get us down from this high perch, I think it will be relatively easy: finish out the verse with the “topaz tortoises” line, getting quieter as we go along, then use the “Dear William” phrase tossed back and forth from section to section to return us to the calm (and key) of the actual song. From there, we sigh back into the violas divisi, and let the chorus repeat the “They arranged themselves at the window” verse. Fini.

We’ll see if I get back to this today, what with Wadsworth tonight.