Lift-up-over sounding (2015) by Cindy Cox
for bass clarinet, cello, piano, and percussion
World premiere

My new work for bass clarinet, cello, percussion, and piano, Lift-up-over sounding, is based on two lines from a poem by John Campion: "World a tuning fork / lift-up-over sounding." The lines describe a living, canopied sound world in the Amazon rain forest and its resonant space. The piece is a reworking and recasting of a composition from 2001 called World A Tuning Fork, which was originally for amplified soprano sax, double bass, percussion, piano, and fixed media. I chose sonorities loosely based on the overtone series of the double bass' open strings (E, A, D, and G), and used the piano's sostenuto pedal (the middle pedal) to capture the lowest octave ringing throughout. The musical material alternates between large expressive soliloquies played by the bass clarinet, and a cyclical set of repetitions played by the entire quartet. The piece is dedicated to John Campion, and I am delighted that this new version will be premiered by Earplay.