laura cetilia - purling to pool 

purling to pool
by laura cetilia
performed by TAK Ensemble
to purl is the swirling motion of water - circuitous activity within a fixed but fluid area.
i attempt to convey this intricate movement musically through constant but asynchronous rhythms that are punctuated by a limited palette of tonalities, creating slight undulations within a steady stream of sound - a drone, interrupted.
following this slightly agitated path the sounds then spill into micro pools that hold delicate stratum of noise, timbre, and pitch, shifting ever so slightly in each chord.
i make use of the lower ranges of the piccolo and violin, highlighting the darker tones of those instruments, and the percussion enriches their textures. the voice hovers above the others, at times slowly gliding between notes, while the bass clarinet provides a velvety substrate for the ensemble.