Weather Underwater

for 3 singers and large ensemble

Carolyn Chen 2008

for the Orkest de Ereprijs

If my eyes are blindfolded and if my hands are chained to a stick, if this stick separates me from things but I can explore them by means of it, it is only the stick which I feel, it is only the wall which I perceive. – Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace

What seems impenetrable can yield individual detail. Singing is sometimes obscured, but it persists. Instrumentation 2 sopranos 1 mezzo-soprano 2 flutes clarinet in Bb 2 soprano saxophones trumpet in Bb horn in F 2 trombones tuba vibraphone electric guitar bass guitar piano

Weather Underwater see water fall they fall they I can’t see water shook not immensely now it is raining green rain needles fall green close see darker waves float needles fall needles whether where and leap as fish from the water

just grey water fall sea they fall now leaves shook not immensely rain fall green like the sea they did not fall raining needles fall not just darker when dark waves have kept they float as fish raining needles everywhere leap not fall

not water the leaves close see above fall needles dark immensely rain fall smoky and glistening leaving rain under water darker darker when they arrived the waves which have kept me they fall as needles fall they where

Carolyn Chen, 2008

Murky and bright

q= 50 )

Weather Underwater

Flute 1

Flute 2

Clarinet in Bb

Soprano Saxophone 1

Soprano Saxophone 2

Trumpet in Bb

Horn in F

Trombone 1

Trombone 2

Tuba

Soprano 1

Soprano 2

Mezzo-soprano

Vibraphone

Electric Guitar

Bass Guitar

Piano

Score in C

pp

pp

mp 3

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3

mp

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fp

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3

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3 3

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3

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pp fp

pp

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bright mfsee

just

lightlymp

grey

mf

Soft mallets

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f

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3 3

3

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mf

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wa

soft mf ter- -

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not

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3

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natural harmonics notated at sounding pitch

let all unspecified ties ring until *

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