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Larsen herself points out some of these the flaws, particularly in the sections
between § and m. 65 (after § ) where motive z returns. She notes that she did not have
the technique to recognize the architecture she had set up in order to continue it:
The first measure of D still works, using rests and anticipation and not
giving—setting up musical expectation. But then, right at ∣D∣, when I
introduce 5/4 and reduce the rhythm down to half notes and quarter notes,
I suddenly apply meter, a meter that doesn’t really belong to the pulse.
Then your brain—there’s enough material in the opening so that the
listener—you have a set of expectations, and you’re ready to explore those
expectations, but then when I apply meter that doesn’t belong to the pulse,
your brain just doesn’t tilt.30
In retrospect, Larsen feels as if this section should have been cut, and replaced by a
more effective transition that reused and developed her earlier motives. Similarly, she is
dissatisfied with the climax of the piece, the aleatoric section at ∣K∣. Although she still
occasionally uses aleatoric elements in her works,31 she feels that in Black Roller it was
not an effective tool to capture the arrival of the tornado and its ensuing chaos. Section ∣κ]
attempts to depict a certain type of chaos, and Larsen has a rather specific idea in her
head of what it should sound like. When she wrote the work, Larsen assumed that the
musicians would incorporate the motives and material from the work into their
improvisations. However, because she did not specify this, it generally does not happen
in performance.
The other questionable aspect OiBlackRoller lies in its instrumentation.
Technically the piece is well suited for the instruments, yet the concept of the role of
3i lbid'
Larsen notes, “In my latest orchestra piece [Bach 358] I used aleatoric [elements]. It’s
a piece that revolves around a theme from Bach’s Musical Offering, and that’s a piece we
all know so well, that I could use chaos, aleatoric chaos, in a way that would allow the
performers to be very inventive.” (Larsen interview 2009).