02 Jul Oil & Water

3 3 3 3 / 4 3 3 1 / timp / 3 perc / hp / str + tape [16′ 30″] 2019.

Commissioner: Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Funder: Elaine Lebenbom Award for Female Composers
Premiere: Detroit Symphony Orchestra with conductor Leonard Slatkin, Symphony Hall, Detroit, June 7-9, 2019.

Program note:

Water flows between the Great Lakes cities of Detroit and Toronto, where I live. Looking at the map, I am reminded of the powerful work of the late Ojibway Elder Josephine Mandamin, who walked around each of the Great Lakes to honour and pray for the water. Her dedication made me wonder how a piece of orchestral music could weave together places and stories relating to the struggle for clean water. Oil & Water journeys through field recordings chronicling the ecological and the political watershed.Traditional teachings remind us that water never gives up, overcoming all obstacles in its way. May we do water justice.

In transcribing field recordings, I rely on computer software and my intuition to help map sounds onto the orchestra. This translation process often leads to unexpected leaps and digressions. At times the original sounds resurface then disappear, leaving ghostly traces: the dissonant chords of the pumping station, the rhythmic impulses of cascades and swirling eddies.

I am grateful to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Elaine Lebenbom for the opportunity to compose Oil & Water, and to the Ucross Foundation in Wyoming for the artistic residency which allowed me to begin work on this piece — and plunge into the October chill of Crazy Woman Creek.