Cloudspin attempts to combine an approach to structure and poetic imagery as related to
classifying cloud types. As various terms defining characteristics of clouds also apply to
music – suspension, ascending/descending, expansion/contraction, and density, for
example – I chose to create a work complementing these atmospheric images.
Cloudspin begins without thematic material or any clear harmonic field, gradually
increasing in density through ascending chromatic progressions and rhythmic
acceleration. At its peak, measure 33, the situation reverses itself with the upper voices
descending while the pedal ascends. A gradual decrease in rhythmic activity occurs to the
end, resolving peacefully on a perfect fifth.
— Barbara Kolb