Harmony on Land and Sea:
Finding Music in an Exalted Maine Landscape

In normal times, Salt Bay Chamberfest presents internationally renowned artists in chamber music concerts at our regular venue, a converted cow barn in Damariscotta, ME. One of the special characteristics of Darrows Barn, and of SBC in particular, is its intimacy—the connections felt among the musicians and between the musicians and audience. Since we could not gather together safely this season, these videos were created to present a new kind of access to chamber music, with wind and birds as musical partners, and nature the stage; but with music, as always, at the heart of what we do. We hope these bring you joy and solace in this challenging year, and look forward to the next time we can share live music with you.

In Round Pond Harbor, Johann Sebastian Bach’s joyful Prelude from the Cello Suite No. 6 in D Major captures the cyclical nature of life through the energy, motion, and color of a working Maine harbor.

Originally written for a five-stringed instrument (the cello has four), the Sixth Suite for Unaccompanied Cello is virtuosic and exuberant in character. In establishing the key of the entire six-movement dance suite, the D Major Prelude never pauses, creating a sense of motion from start to finish. This is echoed here by the motion of the water, working lobster boats, and surrounding birds. Similarly, Bach’s use of the musical “circle of fifths” to travel from one key to another is captured visually by the camera circling the cellist in this perfectly round harbor. Other musical elements, such as ritornello (recurring passages) and undulating triplets, become imagery, metaphors for the cycle of life, of journeys to distant places, of going and returning, and of the joys and hardships of lives lived with our ultimate return to the anchorage of nature and a home port.

Amid the white pines of Seal Cove Shore Preserve, Esa-Pekka Salonen’s Breathe offers a balm to the many oxygen-depriving events of the year, from COVID-19, to smoke from wildfires, to the anxiety of an unpredictable future.

The middle movement of Salonen’s knock, breathe, shine is written in the highest registers of each string, creating a strained sound, often in conflict with the long, flowing breath that courses through the movement. By its nature, this breath does not come easily…it is forced, it gasps, it cries out, and finally, as it ascends in the highest register of the lowest string, it is at peace, released by way of false harmonics reaching skyward. This music later formed the basis of Salonen’s work for unaccompanied children’s chorus, a setting of “Dona nobis pacem” (“Grant us peace”—an excerpt from the Agnus Dei of the Latin Mass).

Per Nørgård’s Solo Intimo contemplates aloneness and fragility against the dramatic backdrop of crashing waves and metamorphic rock formations on Pemaquid Point.

On the banks of the Damariscotta River, Dawn Avery’s Gratitude expresses thanks for our lives, the land, and music that fills our souls.