Libby Larsen - Style and Approach

Style and Approach

Larsen’s style and approach to music comes from her own philosophy on music. Her music comes from the sound she hears everyday around her in the world. It is noted for its "energy, optimism, rhythmic diversity, colourful orchestration, liberated tonality without harsh dissonance, and pervading lyricism."

The rhythms used are often taken directly from the American language: “our own American language has beautiful rhythms in it; it is this American vernacular and the rhythm of our American life that is the language of my music.” Pieces such as “Holy Roller” (about a revivalist preacher’s speech) and “Bid Call” (about auctioneering patter) showcase this style. Larsen composes without barlines, preferring to first discover the natural flow of a line and then refine it until she finds a common meter, giving many of her compositions a feeling of free internal rhythm.

Larsen’s approach to harmony is different from that taught in beginning theory classes. While she does not strive specifically to avoid tonality, her harmony is not the four-part voice-leading found in many composers’ works. When asked about her harmonic technique, she had the following to say:

“My music is built around tonal areas that are vaguely modal and reinforced through pedal tones in the bass. The key to my music is to hear tones that aren’t articulated and to be able to listen to low tones. My approach is NOT four-part voice-leading functional keyboard harmony: however I would describe tonality for me as pools of ‘comfort’ around a fundamental. The way I conceive tonality is horizontal, not vertical, meaning that the line comes first and the harmonies result. Intervals generally have a particular significance in my music—I choose the interval, I like Lydian fourths and major thirds—and develop the meaning of that interval musically throughout a piece.”

In addition to new harmonic structures, Larsen is also known for mixing electronic and acoustic sound and has been frequently mentioned as a composer who is “electrifying” the concert stage. “Ghosts of an Old Ceremony” was the first piece to which she added electronic sound. For Larsen, electronic sound has its own unique timbre and its own set of instruments. She believes these instruments should be integrated into the concert halls. “I would go so far as to say that the electric guitar, an instrument that has evolved in our culture, has a legitimate place in the symphony orchestra.”