Either each one of my Tamayo movements makes sense on its own, in purely musical terms, even if the listener has no inkling about the paintings, or else I will have failed to do the composer's job properly. The Great Galaxy , my first love among Tamayos, forms the last movement of my composition. In any case, the contrast between the humanity of the character's gesture and the distant formality of the galactic geometry on which he gazes is, for me, a source of deep emotional resonance. Thus the music, too, must combine geometry with longing. Of course, deciding to write a piece of this description and actually writing it are two different things.
Ideas are one thing, execution another.
I love that story about Degas and his sonnets. When Degas, the Impressionist painter, took up writing poetry, he found it unexpectedly difficult. You make them with words. So, too, in music. You don't make music with ideas, or poetic dreams or wishful thinking.