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Melting Away: Gravity (2011)

for female vocalist and chamber orchestra
10 minutes

OR

for string orchestra, piano, percussion, voice, spatialized electronics and projection
8 minute (Arctic photography by Camille Seaman)

Premiere Info: Premiered by the CSUF Symphony Orchestra in March, 2011.

From the Sonnets to Orpheus: I by Rainier Maria Rilke (translation by Stephen Mitchell)

Gravity by Rainier Maria Rilke (translation by Stephen Mitchell)

Center, how from all beings
You pull yourself, even from those that fly
Winning yourself back, irresistible center.
He who stands: as a drink through thirst
Gravity plunges down through him.
But from the sleeper falls
(as though from a motionless cloud)
the abundant heavy rain.

Melting Away: Gravity (2025) for chamber orchestra and voice is a new version of my work Melting Away: Gravity (2011) originally scored for string orchestra, piano, harp, percussion, voice, projection of Arctic sounds with projection of Arctic images by photographer Camille Seaman. Sounds for the original electronics part were collected from the Arctic and Antarctica Arctic and from the seismic recordings of the breakup of one of the largest icebergs ever observed in Antarctica, by University of Washington oceanographer, Seelye Martin (iceberg breakup sounds) provided a sonic background that interacted with the live performance of the notated work for string orchestra. The new chamber orchestra version expands the work to reflect the impact of global warming 14 years later-beyond glacier melt to the devastation of permafrost thaws and exposure of black carbon, ancient, fossilized remains, and potential of unleashing diseases long buried. The first version was a cautionary tale, subtle yet impactful using a string orchestra, percussion, piano and voice to reflect the images of ice melting away. This new work, scored now for full chamber orchestra with addition of winds and brass, to replace the distant spatialized electronic sounds, and make present the imminent voices of rising woolly mammoth remains, and permafrost laid bare, includes a new introductory section and text, a fragment from Rilke’s Sonnets to Orpheus: I, warning of imminent Global destruction.

To inquire about renting the score/parts, email Pamela Madsen directly at pmadsen@fullerton.edu.

May 22, 2025 | Premiere of Chamber Orchestra Version, ISCM/League of Composers Orchestra, New York City.
March, 2011 | CSUF Symphony Orchestra