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Owl’s Breath (2020)

from Why Women Went West

for bass clarinet
7.5 minutes

Commission/Premiere Info: Commissioned by Synchromy Los Angeles for Urban Birds LA Bird Day and premiered by Brian Walsh on June 26, 2020 (virtual). Synchromy commissioned ten pieces from Southern California-based composers inspired by common local birds, in partnership with the Audubon Center at Debs Park, Los Angeles.

Based on the sounds and sites of a family of barn owls that came to nest in the tall pine tree outside my composition studio window, on the edge of the Laguna Coast Wilderness Preserve, Barn owls are known for their ability for silent flight—clarinet is also known for being able to play niente—almost silently, and brilliantly soar to explosive dynamic ranges instantly, this energy embodied in the predator behavior of the barn owl in passages in the work emulating fast silent flight, preying stillness and explosive behavior of attack. This work is part of my National Endowment for the Arts funded project: Why Women Went West: Eleven Eleisons from East to West with video by Quintan Ana Wikswo and electronics by Jen Kutler. In the opera, the character of the bass clarinet serves to connect the narrative of the story line of the early 20th Century pioneer writer Mary Hunter Austin and the Eleven Eleisons of Quintan Ana Wikswo’s contemporary drama.

To purchase the scores and parts, email Pamela Madsen directly at pmadsen@fullerton.edu.

September 24, 2022 | Brian Walsh at Laguna Beach Festival of the Arts, CA
May 12, 2022 | No Exit New Music at Queen’s College, NY
May 11, 2022 | No Exit New Music at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY
June 26, 2021 | Brain Walsh at Urban Birds, Los Angeles (virtual)