Secrets of the Deep for alto flute, bass clarinet, violin, cello, and piano

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$39.99
$39.99
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2010-2017
23 minutes
seven movements
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20 pages (alto flute part)
21 pages (bass clarinet part)
19 pages (violin part)
19 pages (cello part)
53 pages (specialpiano part)
99 pages (score)

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Celebrating life in the ocean depths during a time of environmental change
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Movements:  1. Just Beneath the Waves
                        2. Eruption of a Submarine Volcano
                        3. Lanternfish
                        4. Sea-Horses Dance
                        5. Giant Gourami
                        6. Clownfish
                        7. Sunlight Underwater
 
Oceans cover almost three-quarters of the earth’s surface, and contain an astounding 99% of the world’s living space. Growing up on the tip of a continent, surrounded by the sea on all sides, I became acutely aware of the presence and significance of marine life – feeling a special bond to the watery depths and the mysteries lying below the surface.  The title Secrets of the Deep is also specially connected to my childhood – it was the title of a memorable series of View-Master pictures (a mid-twentieth century technology for viewing 3D images) that I poured over for hours.
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Peruse the score
In Just Beneath the Waves, long melodic lines and florid accompaniments are suggestive of the mysteries that lie in the unknown shallows of our seas.
 
Lava spurts forth from below the bottom of the sea in the Eruption of a Submarine Volcano. The ocean-floor dramatically tears itself apart, with fierce sforzandos and harsh dissonances – the epic creation of life.
 
The deep oceanic trench is quiet and otherworldly. Weird multiphonics produced by the winds depict the Lanternfish, illuminating itself and its prey in the dark depths.
 
Sea-Horses Dance, mock-serious, flirtatious, but with caution, in matching pairs (flute with clarinet, or violin with cello), and in two dance-styles: fast or slow.
 
The only freshwater creature of the cycle is the Giant Gourami, slowly patrolling the broad river bed. This huge fish moves lugubriously to the somber tones of the bass clarinet.
 
The playful Clownfish dart in and out of a coral reef, a fragile home for them, with an uncertain future in our world. Harmonic tension builds up, and heightens our sense of urgency.
 
Tranquil harmonies accompany Sunlight Underwater. Do we look up from the ocean’s depths, allowing the water itself to show us the way to the sunlight, or do we look from above the surface, the light from the sun showing us the secrets of the deep?
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WIth the TEMPO New Music Ensemble of California State University Northridge at the premier on 11 February 2018