Landscape (1990)

I — Rock on Rock
II -— Perpetual Water

The idea for Landscape came from a poem of the same title by Mexican poet Octavio Paz. This poem first appeared in a collection of Paz’s called Salamandra (1958-61). In my piece I have attempted not to portray a landscape as such, but rather to evoke, as Paz does, images of contradictions - of locations or events which seem to exhibit exclusively one quality, but which in reality also contain opposite characteristics. The titles of each of the two movements provide images of stability and motion, yet by its very nature each aspect of this “landscape” contains its own complement.

Landscape was commissioned by Margaret Bruce, Peter Gelhorn and the Roseberry Orchestra, with financial assistance from the Manitoba Arts Council. The world premiere was given in Toronto in July of 1991, with conductor Gary Kulesha and pianist Christina Petrowska.

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