Ah, for just one time, I would take the Northwest Passage To find the hand of Franklin reaching for the Beaufort Sea Tracing one warm line through a land so wide and savage And make a Northwest Passage to the sea. —Stan Rogers (1949-83), “Northwest Passage” [chorus] In planning the third year of my residency with the ESO I told Rob McAlear, Artistic Administrator, that I wanted to write some orchestral variations. “How about using a popular tune?” he casually suggested. “How about a Canadian one?” Instantly folk legend Stan Rogers’ “Northwest Passage” came to mind, a 1981 classic that still makes me weep—something about his rich baritone, the melody’s sweep and craggy rhythms, the expansive a cappella harmonies—and, of course, the poetry. Instinct told me that the tune, stripped of its words, had the stuff to withstand the rigours of variation form: simplicity and modularity of phrase and harmonic structure; a melodic and rhythmic profile with character. Solidity of design on several levels assures that the theme’s identity persists in the face of the inevitable and manifold contortion. And even as Rogers’ words are muted, their images, emotions and ideas invisibly guide the shape of the variations. Variation form, by definition, invites a purely musical exploration: a search for the essence of the subject being transformed, adorned. Rogers meditates on explorers of the past. I, in turn, reflect lovingly upon his song—and legacy. I gratefully acknowledge Rogers’ widow, Ariel Rogers, and Fogarty’s Cove & Cole Harbour Music, for granting permission to undertake this project. —R.R.
