Darin Kamstra

Publisher: Manuscript

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Colorado River depicts this vital river, which stretches 1450 miles and provides water to 40 million people, in various stages as it moves from the Rocky Mountains through the dramatic canyons of the Colorado Plateau on its journey to the Pacific Ocean. The work unfolds in five primary sections: snowfall, spring thaw, powerful current, rapids, and reservoir. These sections are separated by interludes representing the towering Rocky Mountains and the remote canyons of the river system. The primary four-note theme represents syllables of the word “Colorado” and is later modified with different pitches that symbolize the canyons: high pitches, representing the canyon walls surround a singular low pitch, symbolizing the river.  

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Snowfall is depicted with light, effervescent sounds executed with the shafts of mallets, while the snare drum, cabasa, guira, and sandpaper blocks create the sound of skiers. The spring thaw begins with a descending portamento in timpani that transitions to a slow and gradually accelerating figure. A joyous section with a Latin-inspired groove leads to the powerful-current section, with keyboard percussion instruments playing a series of descending double-stop figures to represent the power of wide, slow-moving segments of the river. A series of cascading runs in the keyboard percussion begin the rapids section, with shifting pitches and metric patterns symbolizing the unpredictable nature of these river segments. The figures become gradually smoother and more tranquil, representing the river’s transformation into large reservoirs. The sustained rolls of the reservoir section depict the static nature of these bodies of water, with slight timbral shifts symbolizing the subtle variations in these river regions. A final groovy section, which symbolizes hope for the future of this overly taxed river system, leads to a recapitulation of the dramatic materials from the opening.