The rhythmic pattern of animal and human movement formed the inspiration for Gait, a 2012 orchestral tone poem by American composer Nico Muhly (b. 1981).
Muhly studied the five speeds, or gaits, of horses, documented by the 19th century photographer Eadweard Muybridge, and then moved on to the locomotion of insects and humans. People move in distinct ways which include “a running trot” and “a lateral sequence walk.” The first steps of a newborn meet the feeble shuffle of old age.
Gait was commissioned by the BBC for the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. The work features individual parts for the enormous ensemble, which includes 10 horns and a woodwind section made up of seven flutes, oboes, clarinets, and bassoons, respectively. As Muhly worked, the orchestra began to take on the qualities of a mythological creature. In a blog post the composer wrote,
The point is, figuring out how to use each family of winds as a kind of creature with a specific range of locomotive patterns is enormously liberating just in terms of being able to construct a bigger narrative. What kind of monster hath eight legs, or twelve, or ten? The initial procedure, here, is to construct a sort of bestiary of the orchestra, and then we’re gonna figure out how to deploy it. There’s something circus-like about the Royal Albert Hall anyway, so this feels, at least for now, totally appropriate.
A cycle of fifteen chords, used as the foundation for the work’s variations, was derived from the keyboard Pavan in A minor by English Renaissance composer William Byrd. The middle section enters a serene “dream sequence,” while the conclusion brings a sense of boisterous celebration reminiscent of the conclusion of some of John Adams’ works. Gait opens the door to a drama of motion and orchestral color.
Vasily Petrenko leads the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain in the London premiere as part of the 2012 BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall:
Byrd: Pavan in A minor
For listeners who are not studying a score, the connection between Gait and Byrd’s Pavan is difficult to discern:
Featured Image: “The Horse in Motion” (1879), Eadweard Muybridge