Duffy - Crystals from Lyric Essay by UPEI Wind Symphony

Crystals is a one movement tone poem which is divided into four sections. Each section musically represents a type of crystal. The first, Dark Ice, combines water sounds with quartile harmonies and a modal melody to suggest the mystery and terrible majesty of glaciers, icebergs, and things in and under them. The second, Underwater Rubies, again uses water sounds to suggest beams of sunlight ricocheting off gems spilling from a sunken treasure chest. The third section, Cyanide, is of a violent and percussive spirit which, by its brevity, mimics the horrible potency of its namesake. Finally, Monolith, aspires to images of huge lies of stone and granite, either natural or manmade, such as Stonehenge or the Big Ben's Tower. Through impressionistically blurred and buried, throughout this section one can hear the chiming of Big Ben's hourly bells, sounding from the granite tower high above London.

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