New music in contemporary composition and performance

Libby Larsen's Compositional Style And Audience Impact As Observed In An Introduction To The Moon

If Larsen's compositional style was to be summed up in one word, it would have to be retro-experimental. Granted, this is not precisely one single word, and it must be acknowledged that Larsen group up during the space race and spent her early childhood in the 1950's world of science fiction "B" movies, making her work somewhat less "retro" than a younger composer's work in the same vein might be considered. Yet the fact that this An Introduction to the Moon still so clearly and purposefully evokes the era of Larsen's birth despite having been composed in 2006 absolutely adds a retro aspect to the piece. Many of the sounds -- oddly phrased flute solos trailing off into nothingness, subtly discordant brass that builds in a way reminiscent of Richard Strauss' "Also spracht Zarathustra," uniting the piece with Kubric's masterful 2001: A Space Odyssey -- recall the science fiction films of the fifties and the television shows of the sixties, especially Star Trek. Despite the strong roots in the past of American popular culture that Larsen evokes in this piece, however, the sense of wonder and strangeness with which space and the outer-lying bodies -- even the nearest of these bodies, the Moon -- were viewed seems entirely fresh in this piece; it is still new and experimental. Thus the succinct "retro-experimental" description.

Even the wide range of instrumentation and spoken text that Larsen uses in the piece serve to make it strangely less varied, and more unified in its attempt. Each individual voice and texture in the piece, intellectually and musically, fits neatly with the others. The discordance that Larsen strives for in areas is a purposeful device used to draw the listener in, rather than alienate them.

This piece works precisely because it is so delicately and consciously constructed. Despite the seeming randomness of many of the musical (and verbal) phrases, there is actually a careful emotional and intellectual build in An Introduction to the Moon, and a surprisingly linear structure becomes evident after listening to the piece several times. The textures that at first seemed so different are actually linked through purposeful transitions that are sometimes somewhat jarring but generally rather smooth and always definitely observable. The consistent rhythm, or rather the consistent lack of rhythm, allows the piece to move forward freely through each of the different tonal and textural qualities without imposition, and without the piece feeling forced or contrived. The pacing and direction of the piece are evocative of spaceflight and weightlessness -- or at least how one who has never experienced them might imaging these things feeling. The intellectual impact of the text is by turns humorous and intensely though provoking, allowing for a similar type of purposeful and directed free-wandering that mimics the physicality of the piece.