The name is absent

aftermath of the storm.¹⁹

The piece itself lasts about twelve minutes and it generally follows the sequence of
events described above. It begins calmly, builds up tension through gradual motivic and
textural changes, sustains this tension throughout a 25 second aleatoric section, and
releases the tension suddenly into a short but calm ending. Larsen’s experience with and
interest in tornados led her to choose a storm for the subject of this work. She explains
that with Black Roller, her related compositional intention was to explore the building
and releasing of tension on a large scale.²⁰

As part of her interest in and appreciation of the natural world, she admits: “I’ve
had a lot of tornado experiences. I’ve had them on the water, I’ve been driving through
them.. .”²¹ Larsen is not afraid of large storms, and throughout her life she has actively
sought them out for their energy and chaos:

KJL: So you’re a storm chaser?

LL: Kind of, yeah. Even my daughter would tell you that; she was a baby
and there would be a tornado, and we’d go in the car...

KJL: So you’d seek them?

LL: Yes’ We got stuck in one once. We did! We got stuck in one, on the
road, and the car was bouncing up and down, and I was just kind of
singing...

KJL: So it doesn’t scare you?

LL: No, not at all. But there’s a kind of energy... ²²

In Black Roller, Larsen uses her first-hand experience with tornados to create the
image of a storm brewing in the Great Plains states or in Texas and in the music tries to
capture the energy and power of the storm. She sets out to evoke the feeling of a group of
19

Libby Larsen, “Black Roller,”

http://libbylarsen.com/index.php?contentID=242&profileID=1337&startRange=
(accessed 2 February 2010).

20

Larsen, interview, 7/2009.

²‘ Ibid.

22 , . .

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