Update Title: CEB4CDAE-D5DA-4DE5-98E5-B078E9F63235

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A gifted improvisor at the keyboard, Ott tends to compose at the piano, sketching out what he calls the "black and white" part of the music.  Then he adds "color" through orchestration.  He makes a point of learning from the soloists for whom he is writing, not only points of technique but also attitudes and desires concerning personal expression and communication with the listener.  He deals often with incessant, driving rhythms, but feels that melody is an important avenue for imparting lyrical ideas.  His harmonies are tonally based, incorporating dissonance for expressive or structural purposes.

Like Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition, Ott's Music of the Canvas is directly inspired by the works of a single artist, in this case the paintings of Richard Pousette-Dart.  The work was commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art to celebrate the opening of a new wing.  Ott fastened on the exhibition of Pousette-Dart's work in the new Hulman Pavilion as his inspiration, creating a three-movement orchestral work of about 26 minutes length.  The composer does not attempt to explain or describe the art works in any literal way.  Though conceptually related to the paintings, the work stands on its own as music.  Ott says that any of the movements can be performed separately, and even suggests that the final three minutes of the first movement could be used as a freestanding fanfare.

The first movement is based on Pousette-Dart's painting entitled "Symphony No. 1," a work in maroons and other dark colors with strongly angular shapes.  Based on conversations with the composer, David Lewis Crosby explains that this movement starts in the bright key of D major but uses darker instrumental colors, including a prominent part for bass clarinet.

Crosby writes that the middle movement is "based not so much on a specific painting, but rather on Pousette-Dart's approach to his work, as in the painting 'White on White':  a canvas is painted white, then a great deal of paint -- of various colors -- is applied, so much that in some places the canvas becomes three or four inches thick.  The entire work is painted white again.  The result is a somewhat mountainous texture, almost like that of a relief map."  Musically, this process is suggested by a string melody that begins the movement and returns at the end, transformed by the varying colors and textures that have been added since the beginning.

The last movement, fast-paced and through-composed, is related to "The Creation of the Universe," a painting primarily in shades of red.  Crosby describes it as "a fun, fiery conclusion."  --Nick Jones

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