Nature and Humankind

Composer Kate Moore expresses her concern about climate change and the rising sea level (stijgende zeespiegel in Dutch) in this duet for viola and ensemble. Wave patterns, arising from the relationship between rhythm and metre, depict the water landscape with its tidal movement. Moore: ‘This creates a tidal wave from the centre of the music that is invisible on the surface, but continues to grow as an unstoppable force that is ever more intense and powerful.’

American composer John Luther Adams believes we must learn to live in symbiosis with the great forces of nature. In There is No One Not Even the Wind, he expresses man’s insignificance in the immensity of the (Mexican) desert, to which he moved after many years spent living in the polar climate of Alaska.