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Black River
Suite
Composition by Anna Rubin
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AUDIO EXCERPTS
RELATED
EPA: Black River Area of Concern
Poet Lynn Powell and assistant professor of composition Anna Rubin
Anna Rubin, assistant professor of composition, created the music for orchestra in five movements; one movement is a an electronic rap for voices and tape, to be performed by members of NOYO, Ohio Dance Theatre, the MAD Factory, Choral Spectrum, and the Oberlin Choristers. In this interview with Oberlin Online, Rubin discusses the evolution of her composition.
The Evolution
"The piece unfolded during a meeting among Joanne Erwin, associate professor and director of the Conservatory's Music Education program, award-winning poet Lynn Powell, and Brad Masi, project coordinator for the Environmental Studies program.
"Joanne, Lynn, Brad and I sat down to discuss the Black River Watershed. What are its most important features? What do we most want to display about the watershed that will be accessible to young people and adults. We examined some of Brad's wonderful research documents. Gradually we decided that we wanted to portray -through all aspects of the arts: Music, literary and visual arts - the history of the formation of the geography/geology of this area that we call home. We wanted to provide a sense of the sweep of geologic history as well as historical events. It's quite ambitious to want to illustrate about 50 million years.
"Using Brad's environmental work , Lynne created a libretto, which is spoken as an introduction to parts of the performance and to be interspersed within the movements of the piece. Professor of singing Richard Anderson will serve as narrator."
The First Movement: The Creation of the Great Lakes
"The first narration sets up the geological formation of the area and the creation of the Great Lakes. This first movement includes the youth chorus; their text was written partly by the children with Lynn Powell's assistance. I was striving to create two things: a sense of the sweep of this history and a congenial setting for the children's chorus.
"To create that 'sweep,' I worked with constant, somewhat whimsical rhythmic patterns, in keeping with the poetry of the children, along with flowing melodies."
The Second Movement: The Coming of the Glaciers
"The second movement depicts the coming of the glaciers - without text - and within it I tried to write the coldest music I could, using big block chords, lots of brass, and only small melodic fragments. Gradually, the second movement gets softer and softer as I try to evoke the Glacial period."
The Third Movement: The Burgeoning of the Plant World
"The third movement is the one movement that includes dance - the narration which precedes it describes the wonderful burgeoning of the plant world and the introduction of the indigenous peoples of the area. Musically, it is achieved as a gentle melodic section emphasizing flute and harp."
The Fourth Movement: The Onslaught of Civilization
"The fourth movement brings us right up to modern times. I composed a percussive rap for voices and tape that offers a delightful rhythmic text that, in a short space of a couple minutes, depicts the onslaught of machines and civilization. The taped percussive parts include sounds of industry and the modern world: drills, traffic, sirens, and four members of the NOYO provide the rapping."
The Fifth Movement: A Call to Celebrate the Life of the Watershed
"The final movement sums up the piece with a gentle call to listeners to treasure and preserve this precious resource - the Black River watershed - and includes the voices of Chorale Spectrum, The tone of this section is more solemn and at the same time, celebratory, making use of chorale-like sections, brass, fanfares, and full orchestral chorale text."
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