Plein Air

Plein Air, Griffin Candey (2022)
for solo viola and orchestra

Plein Air (2022) is a little—or, sort of big!—love note to Lake Superior, my attempt to express the relationships we form with the big nature around us.

During the last few years of living in Marquette, my wife (Susan) and I lived a few blocks from Superior, and we made a ritual of going down to the Lake — a ritual that we cemented during the pandemic in early 2020. Towards the very beginning, when I was suddenly out of a job and wracked with every possible worry, Susan turned to me and said, "hey: let's go see the Big Lady" (our loving household name for Superior.) As tense as I was, I agreed — and as soon as I waded into the (at the time, very cold) Lake, I immediately felt calmer. After that, we made a point of walking down to the Lake almost daily, and she never failed to lighten things a bit. This piece is meant to evoke both sides of the Big Lady: the grandest side of Superior, undeniable, unpredictable, dangerous — and the tender, personal side, the side that reminds you about the scope and the importance of things.

This project also kicked off a larger project, the Homes Concerti: a set of five concerti, each one representing its own Great Lake. The second in the set—Double Aviary, a tenor saxophone representing Lake Erie—was commissioned and premiered by Cleveland Repertory Orchestra and saxophonist Drew Hosler this past November, and the third (to represent Lake Michigan) is currently being commissioned for a forthcoming Chicago premiere.

I am incredibly grateful to Debbie Carlson for her enthusiasm for this project from day one — and to John and Pauline Kiltinen for helping this big dream become a reality.

Instrumentation:
Solo viola; 2.2.2.2/2.2.2.0/2 perc/pno/str

Orchestral performance parts are available via rental.

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