2.2.2.2-2.2.0.0-timp-perc(1): lg kick b dr/sn dr.-strings
Abbreviations (PDF)
Boosey & Hawkes
I composed Restless Oceans for Marin Alsop and the Taki Concordia Orchestra for performance at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos. The piece received its world premiere at the opening ceremony in 2019 where Marin Alsop was presented with the Forum’s prestigious Crystal Award in recognition of her championship of diversity in music. This work draws inspiration and its title from A Woman Speaks - a poem by Audre Lorde and was composed with this particular all-women orchestra in mind. In addition to playing their instruments, the musicians are also called to use their voices in song and strong vocalizations, and their feet to stomp and to bring them to stand united at the end. My intention was to write a defiant piece that embraces the power of women. Restless Oceans is dedicated with thanks to Marin Alsop.
A Woman Speaks - by Audre Lorde
Moon marked and touched by sun
my magic is unwritten
but when the sea turns back
it will leave my shape behind.
I seek no favor
untouched by blood
unrelenting as the curse of love
permanent as my errors
or my pride
I do not mix
love with pity
nor hate with scorn
and if you would know me
look into the entrails of Uranus
where the restless oceans pound.
I do not dwell
within my birth nor my divinities
who am ageless and half-grown
and still seeking
my sisters
witches in Dahomey
wear me inside their coiled cloths
as our mother did
mourning.
I have been woman
for a long time
beware my smile
I am treacherous with old magic
and the noon's new fury
with all your wide futures
promised
I am
woman
and not white.
“Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans is the kind of thrilling, insistent music that gets right in your bones—and right in your face, emphasized as the musicians sprang to their feet on the last note.” —Orlando Sentinel
“Anna Clyne’s Restless Oceans is a mature piece composed in the late romantic style, reminiscent of the likes of Dvorak and Mahler without being derivative.” —ArtsHub
“In its brief three minutes, what might be called a Fanfare for the Economic Woman offered thudding Rite of Spring-style rhythms, a tender flute melody over burbling winds, and a crescendo that was literally a hoot, with the players vocalizing, stamping their feet, and bounding out of their chairs at the final chord.” —New York Classical Review
