The Sound of Mountains Melting: A Musical Meditation on Emotions in a World in Crisis

Alaska, Sustainability, What You Can Do

January 17, 2023

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by Chris Zatarain (Planet Forward) Music and sound have long been used to convey and express that which can not wholly be put into words. This can include the complex and difficult feelings that can arise especially in a world threatened by global climate change, with music serving as a vehicle to connect to one another through our varied and shared expriences, to heal, as well as to inspire action and change.

I composed this piece, The Sound of Mountains Melting, after reading the essay by the same name from the book Earth’s Wild Music by Kathleen Dean Moore, Ph.D. The piece is an electro-acoustic art music composition scored for solo English horn (a double-reed instrument in the oboe family) and fixed media, featuring field recordings from Glacier Bay, Alaska courtesy of Hank Lentfer, a close friend of Moore’s.

Inspired by the text, the piece uses the setting and elements of Moore’s story to serve as an introspective meditation on the inner turmoil that can come with the uncertainty of living in a time of anthropogenic climate change. In composing and performing the piece, I have poured my own experiences, thoughts, and feelings into the story.

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Here is a brief guide to the piece:

The piece begins with a mystical and uneasy feeling, as if to illustrate a sense of being a tiny human being on a little boat in a massive sea standing before frozen, primordial giants. Icy crotales shimmer and the narrator speaks “the beauty of the falling ice spells disaster,” introducing the dissonance between the here-coupled concepts of ‘beauty’ and ‘danger’. The English horn begins by ascending from the level of the boat, rising to greet the glaciers in an exalted cry.

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The narrator gives a final quote, attributed to Hank Lentfer, reassuring that we must be present with the world and its beauty, that we must notice it and be glad for it. The piece ends with a sense of weary, but hopeful peace, fading off into the sea.

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I offer this music as a gift to anyone struggling mentally, emotionally, or even spiritually during these difficult and uncertain times. My hope is that in some way this music might help you to lean deeper into your own feelings and maybe even to feel a little less alone in some of them. READ MORE LISTEN

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