Update Title: A6136DC7-AE00-464E-9DA0-D47348A6253B

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Water Garden, an eight-minute tone poem commissioned by the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, is based on my impression of the architectural wonder Water Garden by Philip Johnson.  The Garden, located in Fort Worth, Texas, is a work of exceptional beauty utilizing water as the central feature:  the way it falls, dances and its raw power.

My representation is conceived in three sections beginning with the first impression of a seriesof cascading waterfalls moving to a central point.  For this quiet, yet intense beauty, I feature the woodwinds and harp playing melodic fragments and overlapping ostinatos over sustained strings.  The principal theme, about one minute into the work, is given first to the clarinet and then to the flute.  The theme recurs throughout the tone poem although fragmented and altered significantly in the course of the piece.  The second section is representative of the dancing qualities of raindrops on water.  Here a pointillistic melody (a succession of pitches given to separate instruments) captures the flavor of water gently falling upon water.  The final section represents a descent to the bottom of Water Garden.  This radically changes the perspective as the falling water assumes greater power and volume; a sense of danger and majesty pervades.  The overwhelming scene is captured by the trumpets and strings supported by the low brass and puntuated by the percussion.

Stylistically, Water Garden is part of the emerging trend of the late 1970's and 1980's called the New Romanticism.  In this style many composers use poetic and visual images as starting points for works.  But more importantly my Water Garden is a musical depiction of an architectural work.  It is art commenting on art.  --David Ott

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