Desert Suite

Program Note:

In 2006, the Seattle University Choir, led by Joy Sherman, commissioned me to write a piece for four flutes based on Native American themes. This piece, Echoes of the Ancients, became the first movement of the Desert Suite. The premiere of Echoes coincided nicely with my father’s 80th birthday, and he has been a lifetime lover of Native American art, so it was natural for me to dedicate the composition to him. In listening to a great deal of Native American flute music, in particular to Comanche and Navajo music, I was attracted to the broad intervals and open quality of the music, and the naturalness of the rhythms. To me, this sounded like music that could be played in the woods or by a river and not sound out of place. I’d like to offer a special note of gratitude to Merrie Siegel Parmley, who has performed these quartets all over the world, often with Cruzando Fronteras, a musical exchange between Germany and Mexico. The first movement is inspired by the flute playing of Doc Tate Nevaquaya, and the sounds he produced on the native Comanche flute. The middle two movements explore more energetic, bright, and dissonant harmonies, including microtones and whistle tones. The final movement is soothing and atmospheric, a sort of meditation on the feelings and sounds we might experience at the end of a good day.