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Beautiful harmonies and gentle swirling eddies ripple through this low-key quartet, evoking daybreak through the clouds on the massive mountain sculpture. A brief pointy fugal section interrupts the serenity and gets all the parts into vertical alignment for the next series of episodes, before returning to the soft weaving lines that lead us to the optimistic ending. All parts remain in the comfortable range with some low F#’s in the Alto and Bass 1; the Great Bass enjoys low notes for most of the piece, sometimes dropping down from an octave above. Technical demands are light and accidentals are few, but some precise articulation markings are used throughout, mostly staccato and tenuto to underscore contrasting note lengths. The composer adds helpful instructions of “Solo/Soli/Lead” and “ord.” (= ordinary) to guide the players as their parts move between foreground melody and background support.