Summary
The work has four brief sections. The first two, "Encounter" and "Flight," are less attempts at sound effects than evocations of the distinctive personalities and movements of these remarkable birds. The third section, "The Sadness of Marshes" (words drawn from Aldo Leopold), is Harbison's meditation on the prospect of a habitat denuded of its rightful occupants. It was the final section, however, that most intrigued me. Titled "Dance Variations," it gives four transformations of the old chorale "Nun danket alle Gott" (or "Now thank we all our God''), cast as bouncy interchanges between an elaborate solo line and pointilistic ensemble writing - the hymn tune never clearly stated, but embedded almost cryptically in those two elements.
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Extract
High Flying
On Tuesday, the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival featured the regional premiere of a John Harbison composition in ...
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