The name is absent

18

recall the peaceful and calm qualities found in Copland’s slow movements.²⁶ The viola,
no longer the featured instrument, joins this chorale almost unnoticed in m. 42.

Throughout this section, motive y is used both by the violin∕cello and
clarinet∕bassoon duos as an ending punctuation for short unconnected rhythmic and
melodic ideas. This ClarinetZbassoon duo (along with one figure in the flute), interjects
short wafting^r, trills and runs, also suggestive of “light rippling wind.” However, it is
difficult to tell if the storm has moved any closer. The relaxed character of the string
chorale and the instructions to the musicians to play very lightly (m. 44), legato (m. 45),
and gently (m. 47) suggest that this could also be a continued representation of “deathly
stillness.”

The texture remains rather thin, and the feeling of stillness continues through the
section beginning at § (m. 50), despite the fact that all the instruments except the piano
are used together for the first time in the work. The winds and cello hold long tone
clusters suggesting the texture of clouds to which Larsen referred, and the upper strings
have a duo made up of short chromatic fragments. One of these fragments, motive a, is
used several times later in the piece. This new motive first appears in the violin part in
mm. 51 and 52 and the viola plays it in the following measure. This very fast ascending
and descending chromatic flourish has a range of either a tritone or a fourth, and is
similar to motives x, y, and z in its short duration. In m. 56 and m. 60 motive x is
reintroduced, first by the ViolinZviola duo and later augmented rhythmically in the viola
part.

§ (m. 57) falls about halfway through the piece, and marks a transition away from

²⁶ Larsen often credits Copland as being one of her major influences.

Larsen’s use of this term will be further explored in Chapter 3.

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