Title: On the Ceiling of the Sky

Instruments: Piano

Program Notes:

On the Ceiling of the Sky is a work in three movements that focuses on a growing thunderstorm.  The first movement, “One Thousand Refracting Dew-Drops,” deals with rhythm in a fairly systematic way (and owes a lot to Ligeti), while attempting to give the impression of a glittering firmament of tiny water droplets.  The second, “Gathering Clouds,” approaches the materials of the first movement in a more intuitive way as the texture builds up from a single note to large clusters.  There is also a brief quotation from Debussy’s Nuages.  Finally, the third movement, “Inside the Thunderclap” is an attempt to look at the space between the first and second parts of the thunder sound (the “ka” and “boom”…).  It begins with a large cluster and then incorporates small motives that grow denser until a final cluster.  Each of these motives represents tiny zaps of electricity.  The rhythm is again approached in a systematic way, but very differently from the first movement.

First Performed: June 2013, Katie Palumbo

Performance:

Movement 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26rwYOLjass

Movement 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8boqeztafuE

Movement 3: Revision Process…