The Score | Sounds of Crater Lake

One of this summer’s more visually dramatic world premieres took place on July 29 along the rim of Crater Lake, Oregon: Michael Gordon’s Natural History, commissioned and presented by Oregon’s Britt Festival. Music Director Teddy Abrams led the Britt Festival Orchestra, a 70-voice choir, 30 brass and percussion players, and fifteen members of the local Klamath Tribes, who sang and played a third-generation powwow drum. Crater Lake is the ancestral homeland of the Klamath Tribal people. Describing the piece, Gordon said, “The idea is to draw out the natural sounds in and around Crater Lake and connect the natural sonic environment to the orchestra.” Gordon’s piece was one of many orchestral performances this year marking the centennial of the National Park Service.