Cleveland Flats Symphony

by Richard D Rinehart From the waters of Lake Erie, travel up the Cuyahoga River
and through the entertainment and industrial heart of Cleveland Ohio.
An area known as the Cleveland Flats.

Short mp3 audio samples
A train crossing the Conrail vertical lift bridge Two excerpts from Movement I

UPDATE: I am currently working with Dr. Jay Horowitz from the NASA Glenn Research Center's Graphics and Visualization Laboratory (GVIS) on a 3D video presentation to go along with this piece. Should be a hoot:-) (updated summer 2009 -rich)

Full score available (22212-2231-strings).

Movement I

All is tranquil as we begin our voyage from the calm waters of Lake Erie to the headwaters of the Cuyahoga River. At the river's mouth, we pass Whiskey Island, only to be delayed by a lowered drawbridge. A train rumbles across

The bridge rises and like an opening curtain, "The Flats" entertainment district is revealed. We find ourselves surrounded by differing ethnic music, symbolic of Cleveland's immigrant makeup. We pause to experience the Flat's "Night Club Serenade".

As we leave the entertainment district and head up collision bend, the river's crookedness is emphasized as we are passed by a freighter that all but consumes the channel. The first movement ends with a cry from the river, symbolic of the hard tolls and abuses the Flat's area has experienced and overcome.

Click for larger image

Movement II

Around yet more river bends and on under more bridges, we approach the heavily industrial "steel district". Both sides of the river are alive with activity as we pass through the heart of one of the world's largest steel complexes. Traveling further yet, the river fluctuates between industrial utility and unspoiled natural beauty.

As we reach the limits of navigation on the river we reverse course. Passing back past everything we have have just seen, we quickly return to the quiet waters of Lake Erie, from where it all began.