86
Example 2.15: Black Birds, Red Hills, Fourth mvt., mm. 27-29
Again there are unisons between the viola and clarinet. Here, however, they pull
away quickly as shown in Example 2.16, suggesting the changing motion of the air and
the bird. Larsen writes: “I love the contrast: that the bird is always there and always
flying—always coming and always going. And I placed MY vision in the bird, that the
bird sees the vastness and IS the detail.”66
Example 2.16: Black Birds, Red Hills, Fourth mvt., mm. 17-22
The clarinet and viola also have the soaring melody in canon, shown in Example
2.17, perhaps further representing the interplay between the bird and the wind.
66 ,
Ibid.