Of Cloud, of Cataract, of Lake (2018)
for
wind ensemble
by
Robert Morris
Program Notes
This composition is my fourth work for wind ensemble, a musical medium whose possibilities continue to inspire me. As the title suggests, the textures of this piece alternately suggest various states of water: misty, even foggy textures; rushing, splashing, violent sprays of sound; and more placid, still and vast sonic tapestries. The title was inspired by a prophetic poem of John Keats.
On the formal and structural level, Of Cloud… could be considered a concerto grosso. But instead of being scored for a large and (more soloistic) small ensemble, the proponents of the musical contrast are harmonies. One harmony is the hexachord {C, D, Eb, E, F, G} and its transpositions, which have played a prominent role in several earlier pieces. The other “harmony” consists of all the other forty-nine hexachordal types, which are presented once each, dovetailed in a ring of four-nine notes. This one against the many concept is played out in any number of combinations: the special hexachord alone; the forty-nine alone; the combination of the two with either one or the other dominating, or both equally present.