Program Note

Commissioned for the Kronos Quartet by the community of The Sea Ranch in celebration of the famed California seaside retreat’s 50th birthday, composer Aleksandra Vrebalov’s The Sea Ranch Songs connects with the spirit, nature, and architecture of this unique place — a grand experiment in environmental stewardship, land development and intentional community planning.

Featuring documented sounds from the Northern California coastal community and its wild surroundings, this multimedia work is paired with a dreamlike cinematic exploration by videographer Andrew Lyndon. The film may be viewed on YouTube, and its is also included on a bonus DVD with the CD and as part of the iTunes Deluxe Edition.

“The Sea Ranch idea on a global scale might be utopian,” Vrebalov writes in her liner notes, “but through music, we praise its beauty and affirm its urgent relevance in our wounded world, so much in need of healing.”

No. 3 Gratitude

In the voices of Sea Ranchers I heard a sense of wonder, belonging, magic, and gratitude as they described their relationship to the Sea Ranch. Special thanks to Susan Clark, Tom Cochrane, Rob Elder, Donlyn Lyndon, Fiona O’Neil, Sally and Jer Skibbins, Ellen Thompson, and Alice Wingwall for their inspired insights, and to the Sea Ranch Archives Committee and Rob Elder for access to recorded materials.

No. 4 Numbers

In Numbers, the Sea Ranch is mapped through the longitude and latitude of the natural and built landmarks, the age of pebble conglomerates, and the square footage of hedgerows. Hearing the projected location of the White Barn as it would be millions of years from now made me think of the fiftieth anniversary in that context: a milestone for the community, but just a tiny moment in time for the nature that surrounds us. My creative collaborator on this Song was archeologist Sea Rancher Mike Lane who chose the data and read it himself.

No. 5 Ideas: Condominium One

Ideas is inspired by Condominium One, the signature piece of architecture that made Sea Ranch famous around the world. We hear about its beginnings from Donlyn Lyndon, one of the four architects who created it fifty years ago. Condominium’s beautiful geometry with diagonal lines, square openings, cubes and triangles framing the sky and the ocean, merges sensuality and formal discipline in a most organic way. The music I wrote in homage to it is based on the Fibonacci sequence, lines ascending/descending, akin to an eye following the contours of Condominium One nesting within and extending into the landscape.

No. 6 Creatures

Inspired by the many visible and invisible inhabitants of the Sea Ranch…insects, crawling crabs, seals, birds. If you stand on the bluff long enough for the drama of waves and wind to wear off, you begin noticing the micro dramas — rocks and grasses buzzing with life, sparkling spider webs, mushrooms pushing upwards at the speed almost visible to a human eye, as well as the busy life of the tidepool community.