Written between November 2005 and September 2006, Noche de la Tierra (2006) is a song cycle using poetry by the Spanish modernist poet Federico García Lorca (1898 – 1936). During the composition of the work, I had the opportunity to witness two remarkable forces of nature: a tornado which formed directly over my Iowa City apartment and a river flood which decimated the upstate New York neighborhood in which I spent my summer. Being awed by the violence and inexorable power of these natural phenomena, I wished to bring this idea to bear in my work. Imitating the unyielding nature with which both natural events occurred, I chose to introduce a low F-sharp into the contrabass at the end of the third movement. Just as the flood had done to an entire city, this repeating, single-note gesture eventually swallows up the entire ensemble bringing the work to its inevitable -- albeit unwilling -- conclusion two movements later.

(To listen, right click the link below and select "Save as...").

I. Abajo*
II. Media luna*
III. Un lucero*
IV. El silencio / V. La gran tristeza*

PERFORMANCE HISTORY

Fall 2008. Jeff Strom, percussion. School of Music, The University of Iowa. Iowa City, Iowa.

*Sunday, 22 April 2007. Andrea Eganhouse, soprano; Yasmin Flores, clarinet; Jeffery Strom, percussion; Julia Immel, viola; Nicolas Coffman, contrabass; Paul Alan Brenner, conductor. School of Music, The University of Iowa. Iowa City, Iowa.