Songs of Empty Landscapes
version for clarinet in Bb, violin, viola, cello & piano
Description
This work was inspired by Bruce Percy’s minimalist nature photography. These photographs depict a variety of ‘empty’ landscapes from white snowy plains to vast deserted lands.
In the music, I attempted to capture some of the vagueness, emptiness and apparent simplicity that these photographs, or indeed, empty landscapes evoke. Each movement is a piece of its own providing a window into one landscape, yet musical material is shared throughout the whole work.
I Prelude opens the piece with the lonesome singing of the violin.
II A thick texture dominates Haze. This is punctured by ringing chords, like church bells sounding in the mist.
III Snowriver is an abstract depiction of a cold running river in deep winter.
IV Lullaby is a slow, wistful piano trio.
V Earth Red is inspired by barren, scorched desert landscapes.
VI In Grey-Blue the fragile, melancholic soundworld, reflects upon undulating hills of snow-covered lands.
VII Postlude concludes the work, with the low humming of the cello.
J.Järventausta
Instrumentation
cl, vln, vla, vlc, pno
CategoryChamber Works
Premiere
Uusinta Ensemble, József Hárs, cond. Tampere Biennale, August 28, 2020, Tampere, Finland
Movements1. Prelude, 2. Haze, 3. Snowriver, 4. Lullaby, 5. Earth Red, 6. Grey-Blue, 7. Postlude
Commisioned by / dedicationsCommissioned by Uusinta Ensemble
Archive numberMF36008
