SHADOWS OF WINTERS PASSED
Program Notes

Like many of my compositions, Shadows of Winters Passed (1987) is a musical impression of our natural world. In this case, the unique coloristic capabilities of the alto flute and vibraphone create, at first, an austere sonic winterscape that gives way to increasingly buoyant music as the piece progresses. This work allows for considerable rhythmic improvisation and free dialogue between the performers. Much of the piece is written without meter, only a suggestion of tempo, and the pacing of the musical gestures left up to the performers. Frequently, a repeated rhythmic cell in the vibraphone provides the underpinning for more dramatic gestures in the alto flute. Structurally, this piece is somewhat similar to Debussy's "Voiles" from his Piano Preludes Book 1 (1910). In the Debussy work, the whole-tone and pentatonic scales are used exclusively as sonic material; providing tension and repose. In Shadows of Winters Passed, this effect is generated by contrasting the "weightless" diminished (whole step / half step) scale with animated pandiatonic gestures.

- PL