ACADIA NATIONAL PARK—When Matthew Thomas Brown visited Acadia National Park from Vienna Virginia with his dad back in 2023, he expected to hike some mountains and have some adventures with his dad.
He got those adventures.
But he got something more, too.
The 21-year-old Oberlin student was so inspired by the history and the beauty of Acadia that it inspired a symphonic poem, “All safe. Home gone.”
The Oberlin Orchestra will present a concert highlighting Brown’s composition, September 20, 2025, in the historic Finney Chapel in Oberlin, Ohio at 7:30 p.m.
According to an Oberlin press release, the composition was “inspired by events surrounding the Fire of 1947 and Brown’s visit to Acadia National Park in 2023. The title is an abbreviated message the American Red Cross used in the wake of the fire to quickly catalog the condition and needs of those affected by the disaster.”
“Four words say it all,” says Brown. “The place was marred, but the community survived and rebuilt, allowing the place to become a thing of beauty once more.”
“My dad and I love to hike together and are always in search of new trails. (He joined me on most of my Boy Scout campouts). The rest of the family prefers a more relaxing ‘read on the beach’ kind of vacation. We figured Mount Desert Island was the best of both worlds,” Brown said.
Brown’s 2023 visit to Acadia included a hike to the top of Acadia’s Sargent Mountain.
While it is the second tallest peak in the park, it is far more secluded than the tallest, Cadillac Mountain.
“Just before our trip, a friend lent me a copy of James Kaiser’s Acadia National Park: The Complete Guide. I’m a total nerd and read it cover to cover. As I was enjoying the gorgeous landscape around me so fully, learning about the threat it faced in 1947 became all the more tragic,” Brown said. “One of the overlooks on the Park Loop Road had a plaque that explained how you can still find the path of the fire in the view below based on where deciduous trees have filled in the much older evergreen forest. I could see the lasting effects of the fire right before my eyes. I knew Acadia draws uniquely large crowds to see fall foliage, and it struck me at that moment that those oranges and yellows and reds are a beauty that shouldn’t be. It was never there before the fire.”
And Sargent Mountain?
“It was a memorable hike over three other peaks with my dad to reach this awesome vista,” Brown said. “The view from the summit directly inspired the final minutes of this piece.”
Matthew Thomas Brown (b. 2004) is a composer, conductor, pianist, and organist from Vienna, VA. Brown is in his third year as a music composition major at the Oberlin Conservatory. Brown finds inspiration for his music in nature, stories, moments in his own life, and religious themes.
That depth of intellect is found in his conversation and his music and in his thoughts about Acadia.
“How can we appreciate the beauty of the forest’s present biodiversity while also recognizing a landscape that’s lost forever?” he asked. “That’s a question I can’t answer with words. But writing a piece of music is a way for me to explore those feelings. The first thing I composed was the ending (often how it goes for me), and it’s a kind of soaring hymn melody sung out by the brass—my recollection of the glorious view from Sargent Mountain. But hanging above that is an endlessly undulating, ever-so-slighly dissonant chord offering that tinge of melancholy for something gone.
“There are lots of wonderful pieces about beautiful scenery, and an equally compelling repertoire lamenting destruction. But attempting to reconcile the two felt to me like a more personal path into the story and the music.”
The Oberlin Orchestra, conducted by Raphael Jiménez, features Oberlin Conservatory student musicians performing concert works for the Conservatory’s largest ensemble.
A livestream link will be provided prior to the concert that features Brown’s symphonic poem.
“We often look at the orchestral repertoire in terms of ‘absolute music and program music.’ Absolute music is where the arc of the piece is driven by the musical ideas themselves and everything the composer can think to do with them. There’s no specific story or extra-musical inspiration to follow, resulting in such ‘evocative’ titles as ‘Symphony No. 5 in C Minor.’ Program music has an underlying narrative (or ‘program’) that the composer has chosen to tell through music,” Brown said. “The symphonic poem is a kind of orchestral program music that became popular in the Romantic era (mid to late 19th century) and allowed composers to cast aside expectations of form—how ideas ought to be ordered and proportioned—in order to better serve the unique story they were trying to tell. Therefore, symphonic poems come in all shapes and sizes.”
He continued, “As artists of all kinds were increasingly turning to nature for inspiration, many Romantic symphonic poems are essentially big musical landscape paintings. A classic example is Smetana’s 1879 ‘Vltava (The Moldau)’, which depicts the eponymous river flowing through the Czech and all the scenes along its banks. Another symphonic poem, less natural and more social in inspiration, is Sibelius’s ‘1899 Finlandia,’ which depicts the struggle for Finnish independence. The way Sibelius structures that works with little melodic hints culminating in a full hymn at the end was of unique inspiration to me in ‘All safe. Home gone.’”
He also had a great time visiting the 1932 Criterion Theatre, which has long been a center for musical acts. They went to a local band/artist showcase at the Criterion Theatre.
“It was packed, and I so enjoyed seeing a town rally around its own creative artists. Though I may be an outsider, I like to think I took some of that inspiring energy home with me,” Brown said.
Brown also has another favorite anecdote of the week he spent here with his dad.
“My favorite experience was when my dad and I hiked the Bald Peak, Parkman Mountain, Gilmore Mountain, and Sargent Mountain Loop. It was thrilling to explore so much terrain and to see landmarks from different angles and in changing light over the day. Sargent Mountain was extra special after working hard over the three other smaller peaks to get there. I certainly saved that view in my mind’s eye (and my phone), and called upon it for the end of the piece,” he said.
It was also a lesson in happy humility.
“We were laughing on the way up the mountain as we were getting passed by proper Mainers who were probably older than my dad, certainly older than me, having no problems at all in the places we stumbled. Maybe we’re not built like Mainers, but we’re grateful to walk among them!” he said.
He said he’s excited about the concert.
“My piece will be sharing the evening with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 ‘Pastorale’ and Arlene Sierra’s ‘Kiskadee,’” he said. “Both works embrace the sights and sounds of the natural world, making it a very united program, and it’s an honor to be in their company.”
There will be close to 100 people on the Oberlin stage performing Brown with Beethoven and Sierra.
“I’m sure hearing it over the next few weeks of rehearsal and performance will enlighten me as to details that can be polished. Feedback from performers is an essential part of the composing process. In the case of this piece, there will be close to 100 people on stage, and I’m excited to learn from all of them,” he said.
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Rick Osann Art.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
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