Saga of the White Mountains

Click on the mountains to hear the second movement, "Ascent to the Peaks," in RealAudio format

The original version of Saga of the White Mountains was written in 1962 while the composer was a graduate student at U.C.L.A. That version, scored for piano and alto recorder, was played only once, in 1981 on the occasion of the composer's birthday, with Sonoma State University music student Reiko Crane at the piano. The current orchestration, for strings, piano, percussion and flute, was begun in 1999 and completed in April 2000. Although essentially "pure" music with no special pictorial connotations, the following program may express the general intent of the music: Seeking an answer to his Heart's Desire, a wanderer (the flute) approaches the White Mountains (the orchestra & piano). At first he views them from a distance. Impressed by their beauty and the eternal quality of the everlasting snow upon the peaks, he calls out his question to them (the initial flute cadenza). Shortly after this solo outcry, a quicker movement punctuated by shaken bells and clashing small cymbals is suggestive of the wanderer racing his horse toward the mountains. As the wanderer climbs higher and higher he frames and reframes his question, each time urged to deeper reflection by the response of the mountains. At last the question is answered as the wanderer achieves a greater perspective and harmonizes his aspirations with those of the peaks themselves (part 3, "The Vision at the Summit").

SPECIAL COMMENTARY FOR TOLKIEN FANS The White Mountains are Ered Nimrais, the mountain range of Gondor that stretches from Minas Tirith westward almost to the sea. It is the location of Helm's Deep and the "Paths of the Dead." The music, though, refers to a spiritual quest, a saga of an earlier time. The theme of the lone rider (represented by the flute) asking his question and spurring toward the mountains for answer might conjure up image of a rider mluch like the Riders of Rohan, as the jingling bells and small cymbals in the piece are intended to convey the impression of the bells on his saddle and the clash and rattle of his arms. The rider in this Saga was probably an earlier more primitive ancestor of the Rohirrim, one of the Dunlendings,perhaps one of those who had settled in Dunland and was traveling south.

From a harmonic point of view this work is not set in any particular key, but moves freely between modes, regularly using tone clusters rather than traditional chords. Several rhythmic and melodic motifs are important. The most prominent is the "mountain" rhythmic impulse of a short note on the downbeat followed immediately by a held tone. Other thematic elements include a drum beat-like melody; an upward rising theme in open fifths; and a "dropping third" pattern. The mp3 audio excerpt (mountain image, above) includes the inversion of the rising theme as it appears in the 2nd movement in a lush, romantic interlude which ends in a percussive outburst from the piano. Following the wanderer's question in the cadenza, the dialogue begins in earnest, undergoing many permutations until the piano responds with a dynamic solo passage of its own (beginning of part 2). A resolution appears immanent when the orchestra joins the flute soloist in a major mode recapitulation of the inverted open fifth melodic line (first introduced in the cadenza, m. 102-117). However, the response is not yet complete: the piano returns (part 3) in a sweeping arpeggio passage accompanied by the strings, which play an augmented version of the "dropping third" motif from the cadenza. A climactic moment is reached when the flute joins in for a fully integrated rapport between the participants (m. 334-340). Following this passage, a series of ruminations on the lessons learned leads to the concluding measures. The work ends with a superimposition of the "drum beat" motif and the "dropping third" fragment, followed by a final reference to the "mountain" rhythmic pulse with which the work began.

In performance, there should be a very brief pause between each of the three parts, but not so long as to interrupt the continuity of the overall design. The flute should not adopt a plaintive mood, but rather one of demand tempered by receptivity. There are moments of silence and passages of pure musical texture (for example, measures 303-305). Each should be treated as integral parts of the whole and not merely as transitions. The sweetness of major mode passages should be brought out as reminiscences of tender emotion.