The name is absent

20

to play mostly in unison, sustaining long notes in moments where the piano, violin, and
cello have important motives.

All of these new events suggest the storm has evolved into something more than
“light rippling wind,” yet the following section makes the narrative unclear. The sudden
burst of energy at ∣G∣ is short lived; at ∣∣ (m. 76), the texture becomes quite thin again, the
new motives are abandoned, and there is an unexpected drop in dynamics. Marked
“suddenly quiet, very still, expectant, ” this section seems to embody the idea of “deathly
stillness” more than material heard earlier in the work. Here, the piano has an irregular
vamping figure made up of a variant of motive y, while the strings and winds have a
sparse Iilangfarbenmelodie against it. Because of the sudden stillness and drop in
dynamics, all of the string and wind entrances are surprises, creating the feeling that the
storm could hit at any moment. At m. 82 the piano is asked to play “very lightly—with
suspense" and two measures after this there is an unprecedented three beat tutti silence.

This underlying tension continues to build throughout ∣∣ and its release comes with
a dense three measure chromatic cluster in m. 85, culminating with an expanded version
of motive c: a string glissando to registral extremes. This segues into a short yet frantic
piano cadenza where all new material is introduced. If ∣H∣ is indeed the “deathly stillness,”
Larsen jumps right into the “storm which engulfs them,” skipping the idea of “light
rippling wind.” There is no question that the chaotic piano cadenza with its changing
meters, registrar extremes, continuous 32^nd notes, irregular accents, and low percussive
notes represents the pandemonium of the storm itself.

The piano cadenza is quite short and as the other instruments reenter after 0 (m. 94),
the piano continues to provide the frantic rhythmic backbone of the storm. It begins a

<<   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   >>

More intriguing information