Of Leaves

Of Leaves is a primary example of peaceful music that is full of imagery, alternating between soft flourishes and static responses. The suggestive literal imagery of the title relates to its interpretations of these contrapuntal pointillistic textures that are, at once, orchestrationally alluring, and ravishing in their evocative and glowing fragility and intricacy. The two-movement work paints a vast pastoral landscape scaled-down in miniature form, for Pierrot ensemble plus Percussion. It makes full use of orchestral color and seeks to capture motion, force, and the dynamics of an unrelated, interrupting burst of rhythmic ideas that shift tonalities. The shaping forces of music found here extend beyond the celebrations of the breezy picturesque landscape for which the Texas-born artist is often associated. Nathan mixes more extreme avant-garde ideas with controlled use of contours and gestures, most notably in the quickly rising and dissolving 'filigree' that stands apart from the other counterparts in their reactions against and to, the other evolving lines.