What Rushmore Needs is an Aquarium

If you are in Cincinnati, you absolutely should see concert:nova's Carnival of the Animals; it's going to be a real treat. Tonight's performance is at 7 PM at the Mickey Jarson Kaplan Performance Studio at the Cincinnati Ballet (1555 Central Parkway @ Liberty). Tickets are $25 general/$15 student.


When I was asked to write the companion movement to The Aquarium, I was trying to figure out how to translate the visual awesomeness of an aquarium into something musical.


Saint-Saëns does this so well it's intimidating. How am I supposed to write something as magical? Admittedly, I stole Saint-Saëns's instrumentation. My companion movement is also written for flute, glockenspiel, two pianos, two violins, viola and cello.

In addition to researching the Saint-Saëns score, I studied two other pieces for inspiration. I looked at the Ravel String Quartet (listen specifically at 1:47 in the YouTube video) and Stephen Hartke's Meanwhile. (I have only heard the Hartke piece twice this year in concert;…