Flow

Program Notes

FLOW was commissioned by pianist Sookkyung Cho and the Robert B. Annis Water Institute at Grand Valley State University. Written for the “Sub-Merge" project, ecological themes were very much on my mind while composing this work. The world is surrounded by bodies of water that give and sustain life; however, our relationship with the natural world is delicate and often tumultuous. Humans have left a drastic imprint on the environment, in some cases threatening its very sustainability, and Mother Nature is also a wild force that can harm humans as we regularly witness in tumultuous floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, and other natural disasters. In FLOW, the three instruments often combine to create a specific atmosphere and energy. Rather than being organized with recurring tunes or melodies, the music tends to cycle through moods, ebbing and waning in intensity as a changing tide. In “Wash Over Me, Wash Me Over” gentle ripples open and close the movement, while the middle has more rapid and urgent streams of notes. In “Tide Pull” the three instruments constantly compete and tug against one another, their battling pulses a metaphor not only for surging tides, but also for the larger struggle we see playing out between humans and our natural surrounding environment.

- Daniel Temkin