"Mountain and Mesa" for flute and piano, Op.62

Katherine Hoover: "Mountain and Mesa" for flute and piano, Op.62, was written in 2008. The work was premiered at the 2009 National Flute Association Convention in New York by Mimi Stillman and Jeremy Denk.
"Mountain and Mesa" is a three-movement work that represents the composer’s late-career return to the Southwestern American imagery that defined her most famous works, like Kokopeli.
Though living in New York, Hoover’s creative heart was exploring the different sounds of the flute around the world: she was reflecting on the vast differences in landscape and "energy" between the high peaks of the mountains and the flat, expansive mesas.
1. Hungarian Lassù, inspired by Eastern European gypsy music, mimics an improvised opening where the piano imitates a cimbalom.
2. On the Mesa, based on a melody from the Hopi Tribe of the Southwest. In early program notes, Hoover referred to it as a "Hopi Lullaby" to acknowledge the cultural origin of the theme.
3. Dizi Dance, inspired by Chinese folk music and the dizi bamboo flute.
Unlike her earlier, purely Native American-inspired works, 2008 was the year she began experimenting with transculturalism. By pairing a "Hopi Lullaby" with a "Hungarian Lassù" and a "Chinese Dizi Dance," she was reflecting on the interconnectedness of global flute cultures, a popular theme in the late 2000s academic music scene. By 2008, Hoover had largely retired from her career as a professional flutist to focus exclusively on composing. In 2008, Hoover was part of a broader movement of "New Romantic" composers who were no longer afraid of melody and tonality.