
I'm still beguiled by this piece on the New World Records CD. It can be hard to listen to as there are no clear structural sections or divisions but instead, 70+ minutes of streaming organ. But the effect is so interesting, maybe because of the timbral and chordal emphasis.
Ingram Marshall comments about the composer's static orientation in the liner notes (PDF file here):
Once, many years ago, he and I were listening to a beautiful, sensuous orchestral work of Debussy, and after a particularly ravishing passage he said to me, "If only it would stand still and stay that way for a long time."
What's interesting, though, is that in the midst of such static music, small changes become dramatic, which is the minimalist's credo, I suppose.
Piero Scaruffi called this music "colossal."



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