Seeing the Small in the Large
(Six Movements for Full Orchestra)

(1997–98)

Composed for the Orchestra da Camera of the Colburn School of Performing Arts,
Richard Rintoul, Music Director and Conductor

The following are temporary notes intended to give an idea about the flavor of the work.

"Seeing the Small in the Large" is a twist on the conventional notion of seeing the universe in a grain of sand. Here we see the grain of sand when viewing the entire cosmos. Almost all of the textures and counterpoint in the work derive from methods I've developed over the years for what I call "melodic transformation" and "melodic evolution." When "melodic evolution" is used, we hear the "shape" of one melody being continuously varied in its up–and–down pitch contour and rhythm until it begins to sound like one of the other themes and vice versa. This always happens with pairs of melodies, though sometimes multiple pairs are being evolved at the same time. Notions about evolution and forms that emerge spontaneously and naturally from underlying processes are common conceptual threads in lots of my music. There are sixteen "themes" that appear in the piece, each of which I think of as being like a rock in a Japanese, Zen rock garden – like Royanji. Each theme – or melodic "rock" – is placed carefully in its position against a ground or "sand" of one particular theme, called the "Anchor theme." This is an excessively romantic melody that only appears in its unaltered form at the very end, in the Prologue, Section VI. Consequently, if this were to be compared to a theme and variations form, it would be like hearing all the variations first and, then, finally hearing the theme from which everything else is derived, at the end. In our case, we hear many, many "transformations" of this theme throughout the piece, often highly disguised, before we hear it at the end. Each movement is defined by between two and five of the other theme "rocks". In almost every case, these themes are made to evolve towards and, then, away from the "Anchor Theme." This is how the "Anchor Theme" is made to appear in Sections II, III, IV, and V. The "Anchor Theme" is the basis of everything, however, in the Prologue, Section I, and the Epilogue, Section VI. Sections II, III, IV, and V carry subtitles for the four basic elements of the theme "rock" garden arrangement: II. Idea–Seeing Mountains Through Spiders' Webs – here we observe the large–the mountain–through the orienting geometry, or measuring grid, of the naturally produced, spider's web – like the astronomer seeing the universe through a measurement grid placed in a telescope. III. Nature–Growing Sounds – the silent, but relentless, movement of slow growth – the sound of the corn growing – the poignancy of juxtaposing growing pains with growing sounds and the happiness of both. IV. Mood–When the Ground Screams – This should be lots of fun. The two most prominent characteristics of this movement are the many transformed melodies that contain lots of grace notes, and a fast cycling rhythmic and short melodic pattern that is combined in myriad ways to produce a hard driving rhythmic cascade. The grace–note melodies are intended to sound very non–Western. So, everyone should stretch the grace notes and not make them too classically elegant, in the Western sense, more in the sense of bent–pitch ornamentation of Asian music. We worked on this rhythmic pattern last time. The grace–note melodies are quite difficult to master, so, they should work on these. There is quite a bit more coming in the rhythmic domain in this section. V. Spirit–Dragon Veins – This one is pure fun and, I'm sorry, the score for it isn't ready today. I've sent along the first pate or to. Most of it is based on a short, 2/4 melody – not yet shown – that appears in a big canon form and builds to a rousing conclusion, prior to our hearing the main theme in full–blown romantic splendor in the Epilogue, Section VI. Both Sections V and VI are not very long. Finally, the Prologue, Section I. Melody–A Luminous Calm (Prologue) – sets the stage for the idea of melody, being based entirely on the "Anchor Theme", though, again, we never here it untransformed. It is atmospheric and portentous and the "Anchor Theme" is embedded inside the violin solo at the end. Section VI is, again, about the idea of melody and is titled, Melody–As If In Clouds.