Nature's Symphony
One of Clifford's most sophisticated compositional achievements of the '90s, Nature's Symphony is a free-spirited roller-coaster ride of uplifting and inspiring themes and rhythms, which blend classical, jazz and world styles into a whirlwind of ecstatic musical expression.
Composer Clifford White embraces the beat on this uplifting album. Each side features two extended treatments of lively, upbeat themes. White constantly introduces new instruments and treatments (such as the cascading piano scale or the winds playing against the accelerating, syncopated rhythms of "Transmigration") to keep the music fresh. "Transmigration" ends delightfully with descending major piano scales. The title cut begins with storm sounds and notes falling like rain drops. The music then takes off on a joyous flight in a Caribbean cadence.
Containing multi-layered textures, Nature's Symphony took two years to write and complete. Clifford's first attempt at symphonic material, the album is written in four movements and is full of latin rhythms. Nature's Symphony does not contain conventional songwriting hooklines; instead it changes direction, never bound by any one particular theme. Clifford describes it as "depicting voyages, either of the mind or of the real world, or both.
