“Watersheds (2018) by Nicholas Cline
on texts of Rachel Carson, Mary Austin, John Muir,
C.D. Wilber, and Henry Thoreau
Rothko Chapel (1971) by Morton Feldman

with films by Brett Snodgrass
Matthew Levy, tenor saxophone
Wendy Richman, viola
Nathan Davis, percussion

The friction between motion and stillness ties together these two extended works that speak to each other over a chasm of nearly 50 years. Drawing on texts from American environmentalists, Nick Cline’s Watersheds has its roots in the composer’s family history; his grand- father was a water witch. In this probing work, fueled by the words of some of our most eloquent and outspoken environmental thinkers, Nick explores our relationship with shared spaces created not by political borders, but by the flow of water.

And then there is Morton Feldman and Rothko Chapel, icons of the 1970s: abstract expressionism of the visual realm and experimentalism that presages minimalism of the aural realm synthesized in a contemplation of time and space. Transparent. Simple. In Feldman’s words, “An immobile procession not unlike the friezes on Greek temples.”

With films by Brett Snodgrass projected on the giant canvas of the walls of the Icebox, Philadelphia’s industrial acoustic marvel.”

-from www.crossingchoir.org