Rocalva

Duration:

15'

The title ‘Rocalva’ is taken from the name of a granite dome in the Peneda-Gêres National Park of northern Portugal. With a height of over three hundred feet, the Dome of Rocalva looms over the surrounding landscape with bizarre and intriguing patterns of cracks and rock protrusions.

The first and third movements are given expressive titles that refer to physical sensations of hiking in the area. ‘Underfoot’ depicts the action of stepping up to the summit. It investigates the size of steps, pacing, and textures underneath one’s feet, from rough stones to smooth granite. This action is led by the horn, who starts with small, uneven intervals in the natural harmonic series that gradually open up to bold and assertive gestures. ‘Sheer Faces’ is about the very high rock faces of the landscape and how they trigger sensations of fear and vertigo. This is expressed through dense, complex walls of sounds in the full ensemble, orchestrations of multiphonics in the clarinet and bassoon.

Movements two and four live more in the imagination than real, tactile references. I wondered if in ancient times, religious people in the surrounding villages might have prayed to this rock. The two ‘prayers’ contain delicate sounds that are feel far away in place and time, featuring very quiet drum-like patters and chant-like melodic fragments. Creating this work required the experience of displacement – Gêres was a new place for me at the time and hiking there tested my limits and expectations. Through research and contemplation of this brief displacement, the piece attempts to go beyond a simplistic holiday snapshot and allow ‘Rocalva’ to inhabit own expansive poetic world.

Rocalva was commissioned by the Magnard Ensemble for the ‘Jibun’ Project, with support from the PRS Foundation Women Make Music Grant.