Often when I'm writing a piece in a certain medium, it gives me an idea for another, contrasting piece in the same medium. So when I was writing Afterglow in spring of 2026, one passage inspired an entire piece employing a kind of slow pointillism that I used in Afterglow only for a moment. Gray Afternoon is certainly an unusual orchestra piece, and perhaps not terribly practical, but it's something I wanted to hear. I can't say it's uncharacteristic of me, because it contains only ideas I've used elsewhere, but it abandons the linear melodicism of most of my music. And since I first sketched the piece on a dark, not-quite-rainy, early summer afternoon, it seemed to fit the mood of that day beautifully.

- Kyle Gann

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