Ten remarks on a city
for orchestra (2.2.2.2 - 4.3.3.1 - timp; 3 perc; hp; pno - str) *can be scaled up or down on request
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commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival & School.
premiered July 19, 2023 at the Benedict Music Tent | Aspen, CO. Aspen Conducting Academy; Paul-Boris Kertsman, conductor. note
I've always thought about the orchestra as an entity akin to something like a city. Each instrument has the potential to come to the fore with their own individuality. At the same time, the ensemble works together to create a unified impression. There's often conflict and discomfort alongside moments of both rapturous and tender beauty. I feel like this musical experience is much like walking through one of the world's great cities. Isolated details--like a stranger's torn coat, or an eccentrically bright door--coalesce into an inexplicable amalgamation of senses, and I wanted to write a piece that captured these varied and enigmatic urban sensations. Here, the city is the orchestra, and the orchestra is the city, and the piece explores the micro- and macro-relationships therein. |