135
Example 3.24: Viola Sonata, Second mvt., mm. 42-44, “Impressionistic Chords,”
(piano only)
This is not surprising, since earlier in her career Larsen wrote:
Among the composers whose treatment of nature I most admire [are]
Debussy and Messiaen, who can incorporate natural sounds that may or
may not be recognized, but serve as structural tools for the composer’s
purpose, for the effect of the composition.76
In this movement Larsen has drawn on these same structural tools and created a complex
sound pallet that has no recognizable source material, yet blurs the line between absolute
and programmatic music. Indeed, the harmonic influence of the Impressionistic era and
the connections to the water images of Debussy and the bird sounds OfMessiaen (found
in the numerous flourishes) abound in this movement. Using its title, Drift, as a starting
point, one can discover all kinds of programmatic details, yet Larsen deliberately leaves
this open-ended by offering only the title and a smattering of instructions to the musicians
as clues to her musical intentions.
Third Movement: Breathless
In the third movement, the sparse, drawn-out texture of the second movement is
replaced with a rhythmic energy and vigorous percussive drive found in other
76 Larsen, “The Nature of Music,” 3.
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