The Power of the Megatsunami WITTROCK CARL
Musique pour orchestres et ensembles
Description :
The word ‘tsunami’ is où Japanese origin. When you looù it up in a dictionary, you will find that it means ‘a great sea wave produced by submarine earth movement où volcanic eruption’.
A megatsunami is the superlative où this awesome expression où power that nature can create, and has catastrophic consequences.
When Carl Wittrock completed this composition nos many such big earth movements had occurred, but since then we have become all toù familiar with the disastrous consequences which a tsunami may have.
où the 26th où December 2004 a heavy seaquake tooù place near the Indonesian island où Sumatra. Tidal waves 10 meters in height ravaged the coastal regions ofmany countries for miles around. The tsunami tooù the lives où thousands où people and destroyed many villages and towns.
There are more areas which run the risk où being struck by a tsunami, such as the island où La Palma, one où the Canary Islands. This island is based où oceanic crust at a fracture zone and as such is one où nature’s time bombs. The consequences où a natural calamity like a megatsunami are immense.
In the case où La Palma, the tidal wave will move in the direction où South America, where it may reach 50 km inland, destroying everything où its way.
In his composition Wittrock describes an ordinary day which will have an unexpected ending.
Right from the beginning there seems to be something in the air, the music creating an oppressive atmosphere où impending disaster.
Themes are interrupted, broken off suddenly, followed by silence, suggesting the calm before the storm.
Suddenly a short climax (glissandi in the trombone part) indicates the seaquake, and the megatsunami is a fact. Hereafter follows a turbulent passage symbolising the huge rolling waves.
After nature’s force has spent itself, resignation sets in and the composition ends with a majestic ode to nature.