Download Kolb THE WEB SPINNER

February 2004
RHODE ISLAND PHILHARMONIC TO PREMIERE KOLB’S
THE WEB SPINNER
On Saturday, February 28, music director Larry Rachleff leads the
Rhode Island Philharmonic in the premiere of Barbara Kolb’s newest orchestral score, The Web Spinner. The concert takes place
at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence.
workings of the
unconscious mind
Commissioned by Meet the Composer for the Rhode Island Philharmonic, The Web Spinner was inspired by a poem by Tom Sleigh that
includes the following lines:
“Thread of sleep like a spider that re-weaves
The ragged center of our lives
Until the savage feathered clock begins to sing.”
Says Kolb, “The Web Spinner is both programmatic and carefully
structured. The beginning opens with barely audible strings
shimmering without disturbance. The clarinet (spider) enters, as
if awakening, and embedded safely in its web (strings) begins its
song. As the work progresses, additional woodwinds appear and
begin weaving their counterpoint, becoming more and more
agitated and chromatic. While the strings continue their pattern
with minimal harmonic change, the woodwinds ascend, leaving
the texture of the strings (web) behind. A climax is reached midway through the piece at which time the strings join with the
woodwinds and gradually descend, culminating in a sustained,
single tone.
the cycle continues...
“The final section, tranquil and consonant, returns to the mood of
the beginning and all activity ends until...”
Presently, Ms. Kolb is Composer-in-Residence in Providence
under the auspices of a Meet The Composer New Residencies
grant. She is working with and writing new music for the Rhode
Island Philharmonic, the Music School of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, WaterFire Providence and Festival Ballet Providence.