Music is perhaps unique among the performing arts in its ability to express and convey the subtlest nuances of human emotion. This ability is exploited in When the Spirit Soars, which attempts to capture in music the feeling of extreme happiness, sometimes almost too much to bear, that we all experience at one time or another. Often this happiness can be tinged with sadness (we can cry with joy, after all), and it is this conflict of emotions that this piece describes. There are moments of doubt as the piece progresses, but it ends in undiluted joy.