Perhaps the best listening approach to Dawn Chorus might be as that of a miner of precious metals--at first one sees only a glimpse of the vein which, only with repeated digging, will reveal its rich rewards.  Melodic style is perhaps the most personal signature of a composer.  It then follows that it is significant that above all this work is the result of McLean's desire to as completely as possible discard the pitch/rhythm melodic conventions of the past and adopt a style as close as possible to that of  nature.  Dawn Chorus was specifically inspired by a recent expedition to the Amazon Rainforest where he observed the haunting progression of individuals and flocks slowing changing the sonic mix in the forest. This, then, became the details and also the overall form of the work, although there are no specific birds cited.  Instead, inspired by Messiaen, he attempted to translate the gestures of birdsong to a more musically abstract context. Rather than explain the form of this work, we would only suggest that the listener give ear to any morning or evening forest setting as the mix of birds gradually changes over time. The work is for digitally-processed soprano recorder, clariflute, and tape.  The clariflute, which can be heard in the middle of the work, consists of a clarinet mouthpiece over a soprano recorder body, and was used for the gestural and non-traditional nature of its sometimes unpredictable sounds. The ever-present "accompaniment" is somewhat orchestral in nature (McLean states, "to me the orchestra in its greatest often-unrealized potential is the abstract embodiment of nature") and exclusively uses a 16-note to the octave temperament, which produces vaguely familiar and haunting but undefinable harmonies.  Finally, McLean wrote this as a "testament of faith" more in the spirit of the late Beethoven quartets and Sibelius's Tapiola and the Seventh Symphony than for an immediate virtuosic display. Recorded on Capstone CPS-8637 CD. Now available on Ravello (Naxos).

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Dawn Chorus is © and ℗ 1996 Barton McLean