
2nd prize, 2017 Franco Composition Contest
The title Dandelion Field comes from a visit to the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Tennessee (USA). After an illness of a few months my sister died in June 2016 from lung cancer. She had lived in the neighbouring town of Cleveland. Because her husband serves in the military, she has been given a place in a military cemetery. The endless rows of anonymous white stones in this cemetery reminded me of a field of dandelions.
The motief CDFG is derived from the Gloria Te Deum swinging bells. I found this selection of tones attractive, and to go from swinging bells to carillon is not a big step. I came to the idea of a swinging-bell motif in Ooltewah, outside Chattanooga (and ten miles from my sister's home in Cleveland), where I gave a carillon concert. Ooltewah's carillon is small (23 bells). Prior to the concert in Ooltewah a set of three swinging bells sounded.
—Mathieu Daniël Polak