Hear an excerpt from the flute and percussion version of this piece.
Composer: David Heuser
Instrumentation: Marimba, Vibraphone (2 players)
Year Composed: 2005
Duration:9 minutes
Pages (score): 19
Cost: Purchase: $30.00
Movements:
I. Ripple
II. Wave
III. Flood
Flood is a small piece; more precisely it is one of limited musical ambitions, an idea I value highly and often struggle to instill in my composition students. Almost nothing happens in the first movement of the piece, Ripple: the unfolding of the flute melody out of the first three notes is slow and methodical, and the vibraphone simply and gradually drops down an octave. The second movement, Wave, consists of a fair number of notes played quickly. In Flood, the final movement, calmness prevails except for a short outburst in the middle. The piece was composed around the same time hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the Gulf Coast of the United States last August and September. The piece was not written in response to these events, but alongside them, if you will. It was almost impossible not to be bent towards reflecting the devastation in Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana, and the titles, as well as some of the musical characteristics of the work, came out of this reflection.