Three Mountains LIVE RECORDING

This is a 'pierrot ensemble' piece I wrote for a summer festival I participated in at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Central New York. The festival is called 'Composers Sandbox Summer Intensive'. This piece is split into three different movements each inspired by a different mountain in the state of Vermont. Each is inspired by personal memories and attachments I personally have with each of them, having grown up in Vermont. Throughout the piece, the song These Green Mountains (the state song of Vermont), is referenced. Little segments of the song are played by various instruments throughout the ensemble within the piece. I - “I Feel Kinda Funny” This movement is about Mount Abraham. The title of the movement is in reference to something a friend of mine kept repeating as we hiked the mountain. A lot of the melodic and rhythmic material within the piece is in reference to this short phrase. II - “Aye I Think I See the Hump Bud” This movement is about Camel’s Hump. The title is in reference to a hike I completed on the mountain with a large group of friends of mine. Along the way, we kept thinking that we were nearing the top of the mountain, believing we were seeing the peak (or the ‘hump’ in this case) only to be deceived and having to keep walking up the mountain. In the music this is represented by deceptive cadences that don’t lead to a resolution, and instead indulge into short ‘whimsical’ segments of music. III - “And the Giant Faced the Sky For an Eternity” This movement is about Mount Mansfield. This is the largest mountain in the state of Vermont, and easily the most famous and grand out of all of them. The title of the movement refers to what different parts of the top of the mountain are called, as they resemble facial features with various sections being called ‘the chin’ or ‘the nose’. The title of the movement is also in reference to how old the mountain is, with the ‘Green Mountains’ being some of the oldest mountains in the world. Special thanks to all the performers and faculty who helped make this possible! Faculty - Mark Olivieri, Marc Mellits, Jennifer Jolley, Evan Williams Conductor - Dr. Corey Chang Flute - Kelly Covert Bb Clarinet - Diego Vásquez Violin - Juliana Gray Cello - Svetlana Garitselova Piano - Sar-Shalom Strong