The name is absent

92

Conclusion

The obvious discrepancy between the numerous literal evocations contained in
Black Birds, Red Hills and Larsen’s desire to communicate simply the idea or feelings of
her source material is important to consider. There is a dichotomy in the way she works
and the way she conceives of music, the listener, and the process of composing evident in
this phase of her career. It is quite possible that although this piece has numerous
examples of literal depictions of the text and paintings, Larsen really would prefer that
the audience listen for the general mood she is trying to capture.

Larsen offers many subtle clues in the score of Black Birds, Red Hills about the
ways in which she translated O’Keeffe’s images into the trio, but very few of them would
be obvious to the first time listener. In fact, many of the elements discussed in this section
were only brought to the attention of this performer after discussing the piece with the
composer. However, once one begins to look closely at the score and compare it to the
paintings and the text that was set in the original version, it is clear that the music
resonates with the images and vice versa. Although many of these connections were lost
when the text was removed, by reconnecting the text and music both the audience and
performers can find heightened meaning in a performance of the piece in its revised
format. Depending on the intentions of the performers, it could be revealing for the
audience to have the text and images included as a program note, allowing each
individual listener to make their own decision about how they want to listen to the piece.

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