I. El Niño (4’30”)
II. La Llorona (9’10”)
III. Pacific Electric (5’00”)
Composed 2018. Duration: 18’40”
Instrumentation
solo oboe / 2.2.2.2 / 2.1.0.0 / timp.2 perc.hp / strings
Program Notes
When dusty arroyos became rushing torrents, the waterways of the Los Angeles Basin were infamous for suddenly changing course—often in dramatically unexpected ways—with the shifting seasons. At times, the Los Angeles River even flowed west along what is now Wilshire Boulevard into Santa Monica Bay rather than the southerly route to which its concrete channels bind it today.
El Niño
Small iterations loop with subtle evolution. Minor permutations thousands of miles distant create complex larger patterns, driving winds north and shifting currents east. Yearslong oscillations develop, by turns granting and withholding the rains which sustain life and sculpt the landscape.
La Llorona
Legends tell of the Weeping Woman, a mournful spirit doomed eternally to wander the region’s rivers searching for the souls of her children, who drowned crossing the river with her as they fled an oppressive life.
Pacific Electric
“Los Angeles is what it is because these folks are what they are. All of these communities are literally of one body, of the healthiest body in America. The red corpuscles that race to the end of every farthest vein to proclaim and carry the abundant life are the flitting crimson cars.”
- Sunset Magazine, October 1913