Premiere of Sawtooth Sketches by the Tree City Chamber Players, June 3, 2022, Boise ID. Flute, oboe, cello, piano.

V Restoration

IV Regrowth

III Fire!

II Thomson Peak in Winter Sun

Celebrants

To the Airport

Strangers

Holding Pattern

Stone's Throw

Going Out…

The waters of the Great Salt Lake have been diminishing for many years now due to drought and poor water conservation efforts. Arsenic Requiem tells the story of the lake and how it has been altered and disrupted by humanity. 
At first the lake is heard calm and serene, with every member of its web of life intact. This is represented by a string orchestra playing rich and beautiful harmonies while the wind blows and birds sing. But soon the pioneer wagons arrive, and the artificial sounds of mankind begin to take over. As more and more people flood into the area the web of life and natural flow of water is disrupted. As this happens, tension enters the orchestra in the form of dissonance. One voice has been impacted, changing the whole. Eventually,  the transcontinental railroad is complete,  bringing ever more people and industry. A train whistle and the message “The last rail laid. The last spike is driven. The Pacific railroad is completed” in Morse code announces this feat. (This is the message telegraphed to the associated press at the completion of the railroad in 1869.) After a while, the Morse code changes to say "Industry". With the completion of the railroad, technological advancement increases at a dizzying rate requiring ever more water and putting more and more pressure on the fragile ecosystem of the lake until the web of life is thrown into chaos. This is represented by the orchestra's loss of cohesion and stability where it collapses into a heap of harsh dissonance. It will only ever be heard again, agonizingly, and sickeningly distorted, without life even as humanity continues on, unaware of, or unwilling to understand the damage we have caused. As the lake’s ecosystem collapses a quote from Henry Purcell’s Dido’s Lament is heard amongst the sounds of trains, traffic, and heavy industry, “Death is now a welcome guest…. remember me but ah, forget my fate!”. Finally, the distorted orchestra gives up and is swallowed by sampled sounds of I-15 traffic, Frontrunner, factories, airplanes, and radio and television. Without water, the lakebed dries and becomes a source of toxic, arsenic-laden dust which can be heard blowing in the wind to close the work in a similar manner to the way it began, all while the public and political response amounts to crickets chirping.

The Purcell Sample is performed by Elin Manahan Thomas and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment from the album "Eternal Light".

Arsenic Requiem

PhD in Music Composition from the University of Utah. Currently serving as an Adjunct Assistant Professor in the music theory area at the University of Utah School of Music, an Adjunct Instructor of Humanities at Utah Valley University and IvyTech Community College, and a theory faculty member at the Gifted Music School in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Arsenic Requiem

Matthew R. Durrant

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