Nature's Course (1995)
Stephen Rush
PUBLISHER: C. Alan Publications
RECORDINGS: Murders in the Rue Morgue: The Music of Stephen Rush, Nick Petrella (MMC Recordings)
RANGE: 4.6 octaves
DURATION: 11:15
MOVEMENTS: three movements
- Winds
- Breezes
- Furies
TYPE OF ACCOMPANIMENT: Fixed
MUSICAL OVERVIEW: The marimba and tape are in unison for the second and third movements. The first movement allows freedom from precise timing. In all movements the two components generally act as one. Low frequencies would benefit from a subwoofer in performance. Each movement is stylistically different from the others and draws heavily on the movement's title. "Winds" employs short, ascending figures. The movement is very free and the marimba and tape rarely play in unison. The range focuses on the low and middle of the marimba. A matching set of medium-soft mallets is recommended; however, if those mallets were too inarticulate in the few louder, upper register moments, medium mallets would suffice."Breezes" is metered and full of flowing, moving lines and rolls. This movement focuses on the middle range of the marimba. Though the writing is much more animated than the first, the style requires smooth phrasing and movement between notes. Medium mallets are recommended."Furies" indicates a heavy rock groove. The first half of the movement is in 10/8 and the second half in 6/8. This movement is rhythmically more active than the first two. The performer must scream loudly at one point. A matched set of hard mallets would be appropriate. Due to some of the low-register playing in this movement, a depth of sound from a softer mallet in position 1 is a desirable alternative to a fully matched set. The writing easily allows for the 1 mallet to only be utilized on the lower notes.
ACCOMPANIMENT OVERVIEW: Synthesized sounds. Each movement has a distinct sonic identity. The first movement explores sustained sounds and has a haunting quality. Movement two has less direct elements of wind sounds and the tape takes on a darker tone. This movement combines sustained tones and rhythmic activity. The third movement is also free of wind sounds and has an underlying drum groove.
TECHNIQUE OVERVIEW: SI, SIA, DV, and DL. One-handed rolls required. Very few double-vertical strokes and the interval changes occur at slow rates. Most of the composition focuses on single-line writing. Stickings are idiomatic.
COMPOSER'S NOTE: The following text by Stephen Rush was taken from the score:
Instead of addressing the noisy aspects of Nature (birds, rain, thunder, etc.) it began to deal with the process of Nature. Both the random chaos and the eternal order of things began to reveal themselves in this work, and the process of composition as well as the syntax of the work began to be affected by Nature. Being a somewhat public believer in Taoist and Zen principles, I let things go there way with me, letting "nature take it's [sic] course." I quit fighting the temptation to correct myself: for instance, to avoid dissonance in the second movement, or to avoid the connotative drive of the third movement. I also found the presence of Wind as a sound resource entering the electronic portion of the work. Wind has been long on my mind, if you will. The "Tao" can be translated as wind, as well as some translations of the name of the Holy Spirit in the Bible. Further, the Wind is the most wistful of Nature's properties, having no aspects of human engineering or control whatsoever (one could not say this about Fire, Earth or even Rain). Hence the titles of the movements evolved entirely around names for Wind.