Ecstatic Waters.

"Ecstatic Waters is a music of dialectical tension-- a juxtaposition of contradictory or opposing musical and extra musical elements and an attempt to resolve them, The five connected movements hint at a narrative that touches upon naivete, divination, fanaticism, anarchy, order, and post-human possibilities, Or, W.B. Yests meets Ray Kurzweil in The Matrix.
The overall title, as well as "Ceremony of Innocence" and "Spiritus Mundi" are taken from poetry of Yeats, whose idiosyncratic personal mythology and symbolism of spiraling chaos and looming apocalypse figured prominently in the genesis of the work, Yet in a nod to the piece's structural reality-- as a hybrid of electronics and living players-- Esthetic Waters also references the confrontation of unruly humanity with the order of the machine, as well as the potential of a post-human synthesis, inspired by futurist thinkers such as Kurzweil."

Starts with notes from the Glass Harp.
harpsichord begins
-sound of water dripping into a cup
xylophone starts
-begins to rain, gently
mood- happy, childlike
-water begins to pick up speed
flowing powerfully
like a river
with fluid currents of harmony
we travel faster and stronger with the water
until finally we reach the end of the line
the river we were riding reaches the water fall
water splashes from all around us
engulfing us.
as we are pushed over the edge.
we begin free fall into dissonance.
the tension grows and grows
and just when you are at the edge of the seat
the ancient gong hits us hard
like a belly flop.
into the body of water below
the next movement.
we land in the ocean
the vast sea of sound
where we hear the horns of the sea creatures
calling to each other
The warm sound of the Euphonium
captures the mating call of the whales.
We can visualize the setting sun alone the horizon of the sea

The most enjoyable song of the night for me was the fourth song Ecstatic Waters. The song starts off with a man playing the Glass Harp. The sound the wine glass gave was painted a shallow puddle. And when the harpsichord began the setting changing to a sunny day a light drizzle. The horns simulated the movement of the water that surrounded us, engulfing us deep into another reality. When the music had fully mesmerized us, it began to grow louder and louder as we reach our first cadence. The puddle grew into a mighty lake, with trees and birds surround us. It did not just stop there, as the movement reached a Crescendo. It was as though we are traveling as passengers of the water from pond to a lake. The art began to grow and grow and from lake it reaches a mighty river, flowing powerfully. At the end of the first movement we reach the cadence of the flowing river, leaving us hearing the vast blue ocean.
In the second movement we begin hearing Glass harp once again, but along with a eerie minor sound of the tuba and Euphonium. The processions of cymbals bring an element of tension as we swim in the vast and mysterious ocean. The sound dissonance stirs the feeling that we are not alone. Horns launch the tension higher as the clarinets begin to stir up commotion in the waters. We are now prey and at the end of the first cadence. The clarinet begins to draw our ears to curiosity with subtle licks of the major scale. All of which are crushed when a machine-like noise disturbs our attention and the sound of drilling rings our ears. We feel sorrow and anger building deep inside. Then BOOM! The Gong is pounded in our ears breaking the barrier between the water and us. Ending the second movement with the sound of gushing water entering the stern of a ship.
In the third movement, we return to the subtle pleasing sound of the clarinet in Major. Relaxing us from the intensity of the previous movement. The ocean begins to speak to us in a calm and peaceful voice. Winning our trust as we begin try and alliterate the sound. The machine like noise starts its Crescendo once again, in a usual beat is gears and metal; leaving us questioning how does it fit in? HORNS blast on the upbeats giving powerful sounds of crashing waves during an angry storm. The sound of water eventually overcomes the machine and at the point I realized that the machines symbolized us, constantly disrupting Mother Nature with our fishing, oil ridges, and technological tribulations. The vast ocean begins to dissolve back into a river and gently into the lake and soothingly back into the puddle, we all used to splash in as little kids.