The name is absent

78

lyrical line falls within the range on a tritone, a confined range even for a vocal melody,
and again a reference to the limited melodic range of American English. This melody is
built on the alternation of a minor third, which in this case can be seen to represent the
“ticking of time” and provides another example of Larsen’s use of the interval.

Example 2.5: Black Birds, RedHills, Second mvt., mm. 11-14, (senza clarinet)

This interpretation is strikingly literal for Larsen here: the thirds are the rock lying

there being worked upon over time by “sand and stuff, and in this case by chromatics, by
half steps, and back to the third,” and the piano chords, also in thirds, are the melodic and
harmonic grounding.⁵⁶ Again the clarinet functions as the air surrounding the rock, with
long trills alternating with quick scalar gestures as shown in Example 2.6.

Example 2.6: Black Birds, Red Hills, Second mvt., mm. 12-18, (clarinet only)

The contrasts between the aggressive opening and the smooth, legato second half
perhaps represent the transition the rock has been through from rough to smooth over
time.⁵⁷ This contrast, like the contrast in the first movement between the free opening and
⁵⁶ Ibid.

57

Shoemaker, 30.

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