Contemplating Weather

Contemplating Weather was commissioned on the occasion of the Western Michigan University School of Music's 100th anniversary. Weather (everyone talks about the weather but nobody does anything about it --Mark Twain) seemed to be an interesting topic for a choral work, especially since it has become a matter of growing concern and relevance and conversation. The work is in eleven movements and has the rough outlines of a Bach cantata: shorter and simpler movements (called Clouds) surrounded by more substantial movements, ending with a chorale-like movement that refers to what has just passed. This is the second Lansky/Greene collaboration. In 2003 we worked together on another choral work, Gospel Tropes. (Beyond that we've actually known each other since 1959 - we met at summer camp!). The work is about 35 minutes long. —Paul Lansky