The Road Not Taken

By Robert Frost I. Pondering Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth The opening lines of the first movement are announced with the fanfare of a brass quintet. Just as the two roads diverge, the lead trumpet states an ascending subject and the French horn answers by retrograde inversion. These contrapuntal melodies mirror the brassiness of the yellow wood. Following a brilliant crescendo, the harpsichord emerges with a minor-key passacaglia of legato and staccato notes punctuated with rests evoking the indecision of the traveler. The string section and woodwinds harmonize a gentle mezzo-piano ritornello on the theme of the ground bass setting the pensive forest mood. The violins and violas play legato arpeggios at an allegro tempo; while oboes, clarinets and piccolos echo trill passages, which evoke the depths of the forest paths into which the traveler stares. After the final ritornello, low-register tones of violincellos, double-basses and bassoons continue with an ostinato that cadences in a ritardando diminuendoing into the undergrowth. II. The Decision Then took the other, as just as fair, And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there Had worn them really about the same, The second movement is sonata-allegro form. The exposition transforms the first movements theme into legato major key motive played by strings in common meter at a moderato tempo suggesting the pastoral mood of as just as fair. Woodwinds restate the melody in a canonical fashion, and timpanis punctuate the downbeats in a march-like feel. Binary themes alternate between the violin and flute, competing for the better claim and the listeners ear. In the development, the cellos modulate to a striding mid-range forte melody at a slower andante tempo, accompanied by glockenspiel arpeggios, and glissando notes from a trombone conveying the image of the traveler trampling the grassy path. In passing there, a presto harp cadenza imitates cello and its accompaniment in the original key, followed by a trumpet, which introduces the recapitulation. The themes are played in reverse order and fade until they had worn them really about the same.

III. Reason and Reflection And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. The third movement begins in a bright allegro waltz tempo with the woodwinds and brass lending an airy morning feeling. A darkened minorkey modulation is initiated as the double-bass, contrabassoon, and tuba continue the waltz-feel with adagio melodies juxtaposed against pizzicato violins evoking the leaves no step had trodden black. The mood of the

third dramatically anxious line is created by a shift to largo swirling strings with a melody that moves in graceful semitones, and leitmotifs which rise and falter as if they were forgotten paths. The largo climaxes to a fortissimo and halts; each instrument plays from its highest pitch chromatically downward to its lowest ending with the dramatic crash of cymbals. A plaintive viola and piano duet emerges growing into virtuosic passages of dramatic bowing which illustrates the travelers doubt. The duet is overwhelmed by a rising swell as the minor waltz motives come back and fade.

IV. Admission I shall be telling with a sigh, Somewhere ages and ages hence, Two roads diverged in a wood, and II took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.

Pianissimo glissando violins introduce the sigh of the first line, as a prepared-piano syncopates a rhythmic figure composed of disjunct accented lines. Hyperinstruments add crystalline harmonics evoking the ritornello of the 1st movement. A gong, tubular bells and antique cymbals are layered at irregular accents of a slow dance tempo like a saraband evoking a feeling of timelessness reminiscent of the second line. The last three lines of the poem as spoken by an old man are repeated through a tape loop run through a synthesizer, with the effect that the repeats are altered in speed, timbre, and pitch. With each repeat, a saxophone and bass clarinet duo imitate the spoken rhythm with contrapuntal atonal variations of the previous melodic themes and improvised dynamics. As

the tape loop decays into electronic dissonant noises, the brass quintet recapitulates the opening fanfare, and finally, the entire orchestra erupts in a triumphant crescendo.