Mikel Kuehn - Works
New Terrains (2000), for orchestra
Program Note
New Terrains focuses on changing orchestral colors and textures that combine in different ways. The raw material for the piece is the juxtaposition of three musical texture-traits (chords, repetitions, and melodies) over nine short sections. The combination of these three traits creates music ranging from transparent to dense, and textures of lush melodic soundscapes to barrages of chords. The gong is struck nine times during the work and serves to announce the beginning of each formal section. New Terrains received its first performance in May of 2000 by the Civic Orchestra of Chicago under the direction of Cliff Colnot and was a recipient of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s First Hearing Prize.