11 May 2001,
Harty Room, Queens University, Belfast. Andrew Zolinsky
The Big Sky was composed during a three-month residency at
the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada where I was a recipient of an Arts Council
of Northern Ireland Arts Award. Alberta is a place of extremes –
blistering winters and forbidding mountains giving way to blinding sunshine and
endless prairie grasslands. But there is one constant – an umbrella of
expansive sky. From this image of contrast and vastness came two musical
concepts – the sudden change of texture and the contrast of stark
dynamics.
The quiet opening gently unfolds a series of eleven pitches which provide the
harmonic and melodic shape throughout. This melodic line is frequently
heard in unison, developed into canons and occasionally accompanied by
stride-like bass ostinatos. Different melodic sequences imposed on each
other create the harmonic material for a series of light staccato chords and a
passage of repetitive, aggressive harmonies. Material is constantly
re-introduced and re-invented. A second quiet section, full of gesture
and spaciousness, is occasionally interrupted by flighty short phrases that
emerge and disappear. Finally, a counterpoint of the principal musical
ideas results in a frenzied burst of energy which brings the piece to an abrupt
end.
The Big Sky was subsequently performed by David Brophy at
the 2002 Boyle Arts Festival and by Kathleen Boyd at the 2003 Bank of Ireland
Mostly Modern Series.
