drift (2017)
[3332.4221.timp.+3 perc.hrp.strings]
Duration: 10’30”
Commissioned by Albany Symphony Orchestra American Music Festival
Premiered June 3, 2010 at EMPAC, Albany NY
Albany Symphony Orchestra; David Alan Miller, conductor
View the score
drift follows the slow, patient progress of a barge floating downstream. Atop the flowing water, the barge croaks and groans to the undulating current. Around the barge sounds a myriad of life and activity (birds, bugs, wind, leaves, whatever you can imagine!) surrounding its hull. This barge counts time in currents, not seconds, and doesn’t measure distance at all, since its direction is singular.
Press:
“Katherine Balch reimagined a slow-moving river journey aboard a barge in ‘drift’ complete with nature sounds, rock scrappings, and shimmering currents captured by ingenious instrumental effects.”