The Infinite Forest is a piece about branching in musical material and in form. Pitch structures weave in and out, following the mandates of a intricate formal plan determined by almost fractal processes. The result is a kaleidoscope of textures and fragments of melodies that draw you into a web of intricate lines.
The Infinite Forest is about branching. The process kicked off by the opening measures can resolve itself in myriad ways. Twelve instances of this process are presented here, interleaved through the piece in a manner determined by the forking of lightning. This work does not show branching in progress, rather it presents a crystallized structure visible through panes of glass, hazy but complete.
The Infinite Forest was premiered in February 2019 at NEC’s Jordan Hall by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project.
The Infinite Forest is the winner of the 2019 BMOP/NEC Composition Competition.
What was to be a nostalgic yet transformative evening opened with The Infinite Forest by Diana Voyer, the winner of the 2019 BMOP-NEC composition competition and current master’s degree candidate at New England Conservatory. The single-movement work slowly branched out from the strings with several interwoven themes and motifs, clearly evoking layers of lush textures and motivic material. The work grows from the forest floor through the sounding of horns over the strings, building in dynamics and shape, the percussion section sounds with bells, interspersing rhythmic ideas drive the work forward through the luscious sonic landscape echoing from the rest of the orchestra. Voyer’s Ligetti-like [sic] writing provides an ethereal space for listeners to engage in an ambient type of listening, the work lulls us into a dream like state, interrupted by various rhythmic motifs from the percussion section, Voyer certainly succeeds in their evocation of a “crystalized structure visible through panes of glass, hazy but complete.” BMOPs remarkable performance came with as much gusto and confidence as one of a masterwork of old.