Lake Winds
for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, and bassoon
(-) First performance: 2018, Lake Bolac Eel Festival, Boatshed, Lake Bolac, Victoria, Australia; Acacia Gold Wind Quintet, Johanna Selleck (director)
Program notes
Stefan Hakenberg
Lake Winds
Program notes
Lake Bolac is a place of abundance, of tradition, and of culture. My invitation to contribute a wind quintet composition to the Lake Bolac Eel Festival has inspired me to write a new work called Lake Winds. The composition features sustained musical developments beginning with a swaying movement as one may experience while on a boat rocked by waves. As the piece progresses, the individual wind instrument parts become more and more embellished and intertwined.
Lakes are known to create their own individual weather patterns with characteristic lake winds. At times, these winds blow so hard they cause turbulences. At other times they rest and offer space for one to reflect, for instance, on what may be washed up on shore. Certainly, however, winds will return and water will flow in patterns predetermined by the deeper topography of the landscape and the climate.
My composition Lake Winds reflects on these natural cycles and phenomena. As it is a piece of art, it connects and correlates a human expression to the sensation of nature. After all, the swaying rhythm at the beginning of the piece can also be understood to represent our heartbeat.