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For a large ensemble / Pour grand orchestre : 3[1.2.3/pic] 3[1.2.3/Eh] 3[1.2.3/bcl] 3[1.2.3/cbn] — 4 4 3 1 — tmp+4 — hp — pf/cel — str[10.8.6.6.4]
Suggested setup diagram included in the score
Commissioned by John Adams and Deborah O’Grady in honor of Marin Alsop
Dedicated to Marin Alsop on the occasion of her 20th anniversary as Music Director of the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music
Work submitted to CMC Quebec -- Oeuvre déposée au CMC Québec
August 13, 2011, Santa Cruz Civic Auditorium, Cabrillo Festival, Santa Cruz, CA, USA; Cabrillo Festival Orchestra; Marin Alsop, cond.
Alba
Alba represents an orchestral reflection on the idea of dawn. Often poetry and images depicting the break of day evoke a spring atmosphere…dew on the grass, bird calls, a fresh sense of possibility. But what about dawn in the dead of winter?
Taking inspiration from the frozen landscapes of the prairies of Northern Alberta, I wanted this piece to explore an alternative atmosphere of the coming of day. I tried to capture the startling emptiness one feels stepping out into a cold morning, the air clutching you by the throat it is so crisp. Yet there is a majestic beauty in this stark quilted silence and stunning flatness.
The intrigue of dawn for me also extends to the notion of the moment something begins to appear or develop, the instant of starting to perceive or understand, and the gradual unfurling towards elated flashes of discovery. Here we stand on the quivering threshold between rest and wakefulness, dark and light, immobility and activity. But of course the light seeps through, even before it cuts the horizon. In a way, the anticipation leading up to the moment of reveal is in fact what makes the experience, more than the sight of the sun itself.
While writing this piece, my compositional obsessions lay in creating intricate musical textures and finding unusual timbres, all within a framework of clearly delineated directional gestures. To this end, I have made use of several extended playing techniques, employed various odd percussion instruments to expand the orchestral palette, and put into motion ascending and descending vectors of sound (i.e. glissandi, runs, etc).
Finally, Alba indirectly makes a nod to its historic roots, linking past dawns, from lyric poetry to troubadour aubades, to a modern, some might say "Canadian", interpretation of dawn.
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