In 1982, fresh out of grad school, I had written a series of soft, non-synchronous pieces, and I wanted to prove to myself that I could write something with more rhythmic energy. I wrote Mountain Spirit and Baptism as a pair of pieces for the same ensemble, and premiered them together. They were my first pieces employing Native American melodies, in which I had found some new rhythmic ideas for ensemble music, and which I used on and off for sixteen years up through Custer and Sitting Bull (1995-99). Mountain Spirit is based on an Apache "Mountain Spirit" song, which is quoted in its entirety starting at mm. 47, 74, 114, and 140. (There is a Native American tradition of doing four repetitions in their ceremonies, honoring the north, west, south, and east. Also, a composition teacher once told me you couldn't get away with repeating a theme more than three times, and so I've tended to use four in rebellion.) The piece is a little odd, perhaps, but I have a soft spot for it, hearing in it many of the formal and melodic proclivities I would spend my life developing. If it makes you imagine a young man steeped in Roy Harris trying to move towards Steve Reich, you're close to the truth.
The synthesizer should have an organ-like sound and a sustain pedal. The two drums should be differentiated in size and pitch, and be played with fairly soft mallets. (For the premiere I used two from my collection of American Indian drums.) The original manuscript has "shadow parts" for trombone and piano, but before the performance I decided these were a poor idea, an opinion I still hold.
World premiere: May 13, 1983, at ARC Gallery in Chicago
- Kyle Gann
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