06.The Mountain Melody

[Instrumental] [Intro — Above the Clouds] [Bowed strings introduce the clear Mountain Melody] [Wooden flute answers across wide open intervals] [Sparse lute, viola da gamba and restrained frame drum] [Slow, spacious and breathtaking] [Mountain Theme — Remember This Song] [Play the Mountain Melody almost completely] [Repeat it a second time with only subtle variation] [Make its full shape clear and memorable] [Keep all instruments clearly audible] [Ascent — High Pass] [Continue the Mountain Melody] [Brief fragments of earlier motifs appear] [Open acoustic texture and long breathing spaces] [Beautiful, restrained and serene] [First Silence] [Frame drum disappears completely] [Selected high notes vanish] [Do not lower the overall volume] [The remaining instruments stay clear] [Small gaps begin appearing inside familiar phrases] [Higher — The Air Grows Thin] [Wooden flute falls silent] [Low accompaniment disappears] [Lute becomes increasingly fragmentary] [Home and Traveling fragments fail to complete] [Silence between phrases grows longer] [The Silence Spreads] [The Missing Note remains absent] [Nearby notes begin disappearing too] [Each return of the Mountain Melody contains fewer notes] [Do not fade the remaining instruments] [Silence becomes part of the melody] [Summit — Almost Nothing] [Only sparse bowed strings remain] [Begin the familiar Mountain Melody] [Remove more notes with each phrase] [Keep every surviving note clear and present] [No crescendo, no dramatic climax] [Outro — Beyond Hearing] [One solitary bowed instrument remains] [Begin the Mountain Melody one final time] [Play several clearly audible notes] [Expected notes begin to disappear] [The phrase stops before completion] [No fade-out] [No closing chord] [No final cadence] [No resolution] [Long natural silence] [End with absence]