Update Title: 0729538B-8BDD-4C89-978E-C6D516204A7F

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The title for The Ceiling of Heaven comes from a Kenneth Rexroth poem called "Signature of All Things":

<UL>The Hawks scream, 
Playing together on the ceiling 
Of heaven. The long hours go by. 
I think of those who have loved me, 
Of all the mountains I have climbed, 
Of all the seas I have swum in. </UL>

This evokes the natural world--always an inspiration for me--and the notion of a piece "in memory of." The subtitles of the five movements hints at their content: 1. "Distant Fanfares" presents declamatory statements featuring the viola and echoed in the other instruments; 2. "Zenith" suggests the sun high in a desert sky--another ceiling of heaven--with a more expressive solo in the viola as its middle section; 3. "Elegy" is an extended, lyric memorial framing a central agitated fast section; 4. "Interlude: Processional" is a brief valedictory dirge; and 5. "The Ceiling of Heaven" is a rambunctious evocation of those hawks--and all freewheeling beings--"playing together on the ceiling of heaven." Movements 1-2 and 4-5 are played without pause.

The Ceiling of Heaven was jointly commissioned by the Jacob Glick Memorial Endowment Fund of the Chamber Music Conference and Composers' Forum of the East, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Xtet. Violist Jacob Glick was a beloved faculty member and music director of the Chamber Music Conference for many years, and he was an avid champion of new music throughout his career.

Note: The second Movement, Zenith, is available as a separate work and may be performed alone. --Donald Crockett

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