Ulric Cole Sunset Channel
Ulric Cole Sunset Channel Program Notes
Ulric Cole was born in New York in 1905 and studied in Los Angeles, then at Juilliard with Rubin Goldmark, and in 1927 in Paris with Nadia Boulanger (who also taught Blitzstein, Gershwin, Glass, Menotti and countless others). After the success of Cole’s Serenade for Piano & Orchestra, which she premiered with the Cincinnati Symphony, their music director Eugene Goossens encouraged her to write this tone poem, which would go on to be premiered by the Sydney Symphony under his direction in 1955. Cole had a varied career that included work as an editor for Time Magazine. Sunlight Channel is named after the water between Pavavu and Banika islands, 30 miles north-west of the Solomon Islands’ Guadalcanal. Cole wrote that the piece “attempts to evoke a mood and scene in a remote and sparsely inhabited spot in the southwestern Pacific, the Russell Islands. The mood is peaceful; the scene is of clear water in its many shades of blue and green in which are myriad schools of tropical fish of all colors, shapes and designs, coral formations of varied shapes and colors. The channel runs between two small islands, thickly grown with coconut palms, where dark green fronds click in the breeze. “The work is composed of a rhythmic obstinate of two beats and a pause- in effect, the rhythm of calm water lapping against a beach, a stationary boat; over this, a central theme of 26 bars, solo flute, solo oboe, which leads into a new tonality, and descending roulades of overlapping woodwinds that end a short, shrill sort of birdcall, unrelated to the other tonality. “With the interweaving and new treatment of this material, in its development, it reaches a poignant climax, tutti. Then, slowly receding, the long-line theme reappears, the harp joining the obstinate, the descending woodwind roulades now in augmentation (half-speed), echoed by solo violin, and a final high “bird call” as the obstinate, in augmentation, diminuendo, brings the work to an end.” Born: September 9, 1905, New York, NY Died: May 21, 1992, Bridgeport, CTSunset Channel is an orchestral work by American composer Ulric Cole, evoking the atmospheric beauty of a waterway at sunset. Cole was a respected American pianist and composer whose works, though not widely known today, reflect a refined musical sensibility.
Cole composed Sunset Channel in the mid-twentieth century as part of her orchestral output. She was a student of Nadia Boulanger in Paris and Percy Goetschius in New York, receiving training from two of the most influential pedagogues of the era.
A typical performance lasts approximately 6 to 10 minutes.
Listen for the evocative, atmospheric orchestral writing that captures the play of light on water and the quiet beauty of a fading day. Cole's music has a poetic sensibility and a refined ear for orchestral color.
Cole was among a generation of American women composers who received serious professional training and produced works of genuine quality, yet whose music was largely overlooked in concert programming. Performances of her work today are part of an important broader effort to recover and celebrate the full diversity of American musical heritage.
