Cygnus Ensemble

 
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The Creation: Audio Tour
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The Creation: Audio Tour
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After the opening 5ths, the next thing we hear is the singer, singing E's and B's. The English horn notes that accompany her begin with F#--G--G#. The other instruments keep playing E's and B's.

The minor third above the E root is G. The major third above the root E is G#.

Here they are, with the F# cut out:



Now we can listen to the first phrase. We can listen for the minor third moving to the major third--the second and third notes of the English horn, accompanying the 2nd and 3rd notes of the singer:



This excerpt begins on the 5th E-B and ends on the 5th C-G. The fifth moves by a major third from E to C.

At the end of the first day there is a clear, if not altogether undecorated plagal cadence:



Think "a-men" at the end of the excerpt. To me, it's clear that Brickle wants to evoke the plagal, "a-men" cadence, but it's also clear that it's his recontextualization of that cadence. He arrives at this cadence through procedures that are unique to this work. The plagal cadence is another archaism, but it is considerably more advanced than the opening 5th. Brickle is re-creating music history as God creates the world.

In day two there's a passage that might remind us of Stravinsky's ballet, Orpheus. This is another histoical point of entry for us. Overall, we won't necessarily agree about the it's a tribute and a reference to a composer who also engaged in reference, particularly in his neoclassical works. Here is a passage from Stravinsky's Orpheus, and a section of day 2 in The Creation--->

[Orpheus]

[From Day 2]
 
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