The name is absent

104

This quote signifies not only a change of Larsen’s approach towards the use of
extramusical elements, but also addresses her mounting confidence with the instruments
themselves. By choosing the viola, the composer embraces an instrument that just two
years earlier she had dismissed as having no role in American culture.³⁰

Larsen is fascinated with the history of orchestration, and finds it significant that in
every century a new family of instruments—and with it a new timbre—has been added to
the orchestra. In the simplest overview: the strings dominated the baroque orchestra,
woodwinds were added during the 1700’s, brass in the 1800’s, and in the twentieth
century a wide variety of new percussive instruments were incorporated by various
composers. Thus, the “masterpieces” of the twentieth century, such as Stravinsky's Rite of
Spring, use stringed instruments in a percussive manner, supporting the innovative
rhythms and complex harmonies that contemporary works employ.

Although in recent years Larsen has written several large orchestral pieces and a
handful of string chamber works, she still finds herself looking for a better method of
using strings both in the orchestral setting and on their own. She admits:

Many of us contemporary composers have found a way that orchestral
strings speak, but it’s not lyric and it’s not melodic. It’s in sweeps and
colors and splashes and timbre and sound effects, but not the bulk of the
melody. That tends to go toward the brass and the percussion.³¹

Her continued focus on the language of American culture led her to question if and how
string instruments, with their wide ranges and melodic capability, could in fact capture
the more rhythmical aspects of the English language.

³°“The violin has, to some extent [a place in American musical culture].. .and the string
bass is used as a percussive instrument in jazz. But the cello and viola don’t seem to have
much of a place.” (Barbieri, 72).

31

Barbieri, 72.

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