the sediments (2021, revised 2024)
for orchestra
Commissioned by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Gustavo Gimeno Music Director
Premiered by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis, Conductor Laureate, April 2022
Recorded by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Gustavo Gimeno, Music Director: Gustavo Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra ascend the heights of two of Bartók’s musical peaks: his dazzling Concerto for Orchestra and infamous Miraculous Mandarin, here presented in its complete version. As a pendant, the sediments by Canadian composer Emilie Cecilia LeBel, commissioned by the Orchestra, is a fascinating meditation on nature, its stratas, and the collective memory it holds within.
Program Note: “The sediments are a sort of epic poem of the earth. When we are wise enough, perhaps we can read in them all of past history. For all is written here. In the nature of the materials that compose them and in the arrangement of their successive layers the sediments reflect all that has happened in the waters above them and on the surrounding lands.” ~ Rachel Carson
At the beginning of things, before it ever rained, there were clouds. Clouds so heavy, no light could penetrate to the earth. Any rain that did fall was instantly converted back into steam. At some point when the temperature of the earth dropped enough, the rain fell. Every surface on the planet filled up, and the continuing rain dissolved the land above, washing away and dissolving things. As I listen now to the rain, water surrounds me. I think about the weight of sediment, and our history. Water flows on, whether I am here or not. Everything that ever was is still here.