Maine Motif Issue 3, Vol. II (Spring 2018) | Page 25

tritone has, of course, traditionally been considered the “devil’s interval,” so it seemed
perfect for Holmes. I also tried to make the Holmes passages dark, angry and aggressive.
TL: Andy set it up so beautifully. There is a tiny motif, almost a whisper, that appears. It
then increases in frequency and intensity. It seems as if Holmes is coming unglued at an
alarming rate. As we heard it unfold it became more and more harrowing. One student
exclaimed, “This is creepy!”
Andy, how did you portray the World’s Fair and Burnham?
AB: Again, using the same melodic ideas but this time in mixolydian mode so that
everything sounds much more beautiful. And then I tried to have these sections be the
opposite in almost every way from the Holmes sections, keeping them light, ethereal
and somewhat static.
TL: There were a number of great artists on the World’s Fair project -- Burnham, the
wonderful landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead (who also designed Central Park
in New York City), painter Francis Millett and renowned sculptor Augustus St. Gaudens.
The grace and bucolic quality of their work was something Andy really captured.
What was going through your mind while you were writing the piece?
AB: As I started on the piece, I know I wanted it to sharply contrast the characters and
personalities of Burnham and Holmes. However, then the question became how to give
the work a distinct shape, how to tell a story. Eventually, I ended up creating an
imaginary (but distinctly possible) scenario that helped me craft the piece. I imagined
Burnham walking through his ethereal “white city” accompanied by his appropriately
positive and light music. Off in the distance he sees Holmes approaching him and there
is an immediate sense of foreboding. As they continue to approach each other, Holmes’
music begins to take over, and then they eventually pass (without acknowledgement)
but by this time Holmes’ music has taken over the texture of the piece, and we are
overwhelmed by sheer evil, leading us to the climax of the work. I don’t usually create
stories like this when I compose, but in this case, that was very much in my mind when I
was writing.
TL: The sections of the piece to which Andy refers were a challenge interpretively, in
that the dialogue was covert rather than overt. The balance is delicate because of the
nuance and subtle nature of the protagonists’ interaction. The secret would be easy to
give away.