Vapors - Viola Unaccompanied

The two-movement VAPORS was composed in 2008-09, inspired by the composer’s visit to artist Constance DeJong’s studio. Leisner was moved by her large two-paneled Nitrate Painting XVI, and he has written: “You can feel enveloped by it and meditatively immersed in its cloudy or watery atmosphere, depending on how you see it. The more I looked at it, the more it gave me a similar feeling to watching a snowfall in which the snowflakes appear to be falling and rising at the same time. The first movement, Falling, came out of this sensation. Later, when I decided to add a second movement, Floating, I turned the work on its side in my imagination, and now saw a broad expanse of clouds or ocean, with spatial depth that was accompanied by a sense of depth of time. This image spawned the second movement.”