Mountain Views for Chamber Orchestra

Abstract

Mountain Views for Chamber Orchestra is a three-movement piece that evokes various geographic and aesthetic attributes of the Catalina Mountains in Tucson Arizona. It makes use of musical elements such as time, theme, color/timbre, and texture from the chamber ensemble that are conducive to the evocation of contours, colors, and polyphonies necessary for the images found in the work. "Early Morning Clouds Descending on the Catalinas," the first movement of Mountain Views depicts the picturesque Catalinas as they are often seen in the mild winter mornings of Tucson. The slow introduction conveys the early dawn and the episodic middle section uses ostinato-like repetitions and sudden juxtapositions of block-like figures that depict a hidden and secretive landscape. "Cancion del saguaro," the second movement is much slower than the previous movement and features a more aria-like treatment yet, still with some repetitious accompanimental figures. This movement depicts a lonely cactus within the mountain landscape with chromatic glissandos that imply scale and incline. "Danzas de sombra," the last movement depicts the mountain face at dusk using white-note collections and contrasting black-note collections that depict bright and shadowy sections of the mountain. This movement is more segmented or episodic with the different sections distinguishable not only by their key areas and modes but also registrally and metrically with a greater use of mixed meter and dance-like rhythms in the black-note shadowy sections.