Moraine Lake

Top Note Trumpet: D6
Top Note Trombone: B4

Mutes: Trumpets: Straight, Cup, Harmon / Trombones: Cup

Doubles: Flügelhorn, Soprano Sax, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet

Instrumentation: Soprano Saxophone, Alto Sax/Clarinet, Tenor Sax, Tenor Sax/Clarinet, Baritone Sax/Clarinet Trumpet 1 -3/F

From the composer: This was one of my more in-depth explorations of programmatic music. The image of the music is explained below: Moraine Lake is one of the most breathtakingly gorgeous places I've experienced, and it is just in my backyard in Calgary. The image I was going for was that of a camera traveling throughout the lake and surrounding scenery. For the introduction, I'm projecting the camera's frame of reference as only the surface of the lake at dawn, mirror-like, but shaded with the hue of the lake (D Lydian has a very turquoise hue for me). The continuo starts, and we plunge deep into the abyss of the lake, where we are at the mercy of the currents and turbulent waters (represented by the motion of the clarinets and the harmony, swirling, constantly unresolved, cadencing to places that are unrelated to the original key). We are pushed side to side by different forces (trumpets and bass clarinet), and weaving in and out of the detritus of the lake bed. The rise and fall of the counter-melody is representative of the he pulsation of the flora in the middle depths of the lake -- imagine seaweed at the mercy of currents. A few dramatic moments arise as we longingly see the light from the surface break through the darkness, but there is inherent sadness and conflict, as the camera is beneath the surface, at the mercy of the depths. We arrive at a shallow depth for the bass and piano solos, where the waters are no longer as dark and heavy, culminating in a frightening encounter with a northern pike, which immediately darts away, much to our relief. Finally, as the fauna of the lake begin to surround us, encouraging the camera ever skyward, we arrive at the surface to fly over the lake, and witness it in context for the first time -- the mountains appearing majestically, their sharp edges reflecting crisply off of the polished, reflective surface of the lake. The sun is blazing incandescently, and we end the piece by pointing the camera directly into the star, filling our entire field of view with light, blinding us and searing a vermilion hue onto our retinas.