Morris: Bright Light at Russell's Corners for contrabass quintet

This work is inspired by American painter George Ault’s series of 1940’s paintings of his vacation farm in upstate New York. Ault was interested in abstraction and light, imbuing his landscapes with a sense of stark simplicity and solitude — a surreal glow in dense night. The double basses capture the stark mood and dark tones of the scene as well as the glints of light that subtly bathe the empty surfaces and planes of buildings and ground surrounding it. Not too far from Bartok’s conception of “Night Music,” the piece explores static floating sonorities in addition to bustling busy movements of night creatures unseen and not illuminated by the paintings.