“This piece was the best of them all… It articulates the text so clearly.”
– Hui Shan How
Duration: 5’34”.
Ocean Breeze is a setting of a poem written by my late uncle Lewis Guthrie, which he wrote when he was only 19. This poem’s title fits perfectly with its suave consonant endings for each stanza and its ethereal message. While no one knows what the poem means, Lewis was clearly eluding to an escape from life’s deepest struggles. It seems to have a spiritual message, and may have been meant to serve as a religious allegory.Sadly, Lewis died of a terrible disease in 1994 (just after I was born), but I grew up seeing this poem (on a card less than 3”x5”) on my family’s refrigerator for many years. Through seeing this poem, Lewis’ mysterious legacy lived on for me, and I sought to set this suave and touching poem to music.