George Frederick McKay · section 102 of 111

Sufficient instrumental motion

The structural vividness or challenge of orchestration will depend greatly upon the ability of the composer to invent instrumental motion which is appealingly alive and natural to each

instrument. Simple motion can be characterful, but even within a simple action there must be a purposeful design and a sense of latent spontaneity. In scores which manifest elaborate motion there is nearly always a simple inner design which is the real unifying force. The score of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloé (Suite No. 2) is an illustration of this. At first glance there seems to be unparalleled elaboration; but upon further analysis it can be seen that the elaboration coalesces into unified main streams of tonal action which are essentially simple, in spite of all the apparent surface “busyness.”