Landscapes in Motion

2016 . . . . mezzo-soprano, viola, piano . . . . duration: 8 minutes

Premiered 6 February 2018 by Youna Hartgraves (voice), Ames Asbell (viola), Joey Martin (piano)

Riding Backwards on a Train

“The cider mill beside the river, cows grazing by a dead tree,
a red barn stuffed with hay. An old square house alone on a hilltop,
a church’s silent steeple above the trees, a country cemetery,
old stone crosses guarding against oblivion. Then the sun is gone,
storm clouds ripple across meadow skies, the river turns away.
Riding backwards on a train, frozen fields float by. Glossy sheets of white ice glow with winter sun. Dead brown stubble breaks the mirror, patchy footprints of autumn’s retreat. Pale late light of afternoon flickering through leafless trees that line the lifeless fields in rows, through fields of withered cornstalks.
Leap into brown dry woods, plunge past barren trees,
spray a wake of fallen leaves, lunge into holy autumn stillness,
riding backwards on a train, headed east into a frozen future.”

Sailing at Sunset

“Dusty dusk settling silk on dying silver of wave-modulated water,
the sail still silently searching for a departing breeze, swinging gently its boom and softly rattling its blocks in confounded cross-rhythms to the lapping shore.
Streams of crimson flowing dust streak the sky above looming shadowed firs.
Deepening shadows settle dark dust on the deck while still the mast peak
rages red and soars into a deepening sky.
Scorched face soothed by the oncoming night breeze,
eyes searching the sunset sky for sign of tomorrow’s wind.
Where will we sail then? Wherever wind wills . . .
and a new dusk consume our shadows.”

To request performance materials and permission, email BMI-affiliated composer Thomas Clark, tc24@txstate.edu