Year composed: 2010
Duration: 17′
Instrumentation: flute, clarinet, 2 bassoons, 2 trumpets, trombone, bass trombone
Commissioned by the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra and premiered in Herbst Theater, San Francisco, March 2011.
Movements:
I. Headlong
II. Tender, Nostalgic
III. Strong, Punchy
Notes:
In 2010, Ben Simon approached me about composing a new work for the San Francisco Chamber Orchestra, and he gave me several choices of “companion” pieces to choose from—works already in the repertoire that would have the same instrumentation as my composition. Somewhat to Ben’s surprise (I think), I chose the Stravinsky Octet, a piece that I’ve loved since encountering it as a student. Having a rather unusual instrumentation, the Octet is not so well known outside of professional circles–but for us composers, it’s a beloved composition, full of energy, charm, and dry wit. If you don’t already know it, you’re in for a treat.
Of course, when I took on this instrumentation, it became filtered through my own creative lens. My sound-world is very different from Stravinsky’s. I love a certain kind of transparency in music, a kind of flow or elegance, but I also prefer the sonic choices to have special or unusual colors. So, for example I ask the brass players to sing into their instrument while they’re playing or use multiple kinds of mutes to alter the sound. I ask for the wind players to overblow their instrument or to split the airstream to create “multiphonics”, the illusion of chords. I ask the flute player to play “whistle tones” beautiful, very quiet sounds that for me evoke nature and natural surroundings.
While composing this piece last year, I had been reading a work of the great naturalist John Muir, The Mountains of California. Even though this book is over a hundred years old, his descriptions of our landscape (are they science or poetry?) still resonate–particularly inspiring were passages describing the sculpting process of glaciers and waterways, and these had a direct influence on Cañon. Also influential was a trip I took last fall to the amazing Iguazú falls on the border of Argentina and Brazil. The immensity of the falls is impossible to describe, the wealth of color, the tremendous power and force—these images also formed part of Cañon’s genesis.