PRESS PLAY Episode 71: Snow Descending Under Moonlight

February 5, 2026

Snow Descending Under Moonlight (2024)

Kotoka Suzuki (CA)

Leslie Newman, flute
Anthony Thompson, clarinet
Carol Lynn Fujino, violin
Paul Widner, cello
Gregory Oh, piano
Ryan Scott, percussion
Brian Current, conductor

This work is inspired by the intricate and symmetrical structures of ice crystals that make up snowflakes and the collective patterns of snow as it descends from the sky. Although all ice crystals produce six-sided crystals, they generate infinite patterns and shapes as they interact, expand, fragment, and spin to form new crystals depending on temperature changes and impurity levels. These micro and macro interactions of ice crystals and snowflakes motivate this work.

The six instruments are positioned symmetrically on opposite sides of one another (flute/cello/vibraphone & clarinet/violin/piano) and frequently grouped in various symmetrical pairings of two or three instruments (e.g., flute/clarinet, violin/cello, and piano/vibraphone). Throughout the piece, variations and rotations of a hexachord, along with carefully placed sound spatialization, are used to evoke the shifting formations, movements, and rotations of ice crystals and snowflakes.