Symphony No. 1

For Orchestra

Written: Upcoming
Duration: ca. 30'
Instrumentation: orchestra (3 flutes, 3 oboes (3 doubling English Horn), 3 clarinets (3 doubling bass clarinet), 3 bassoons (bassoon 3 doubling contrabassoon), 4 horns
3 trumpets, 2 trombones, bass trombone, tuba, timpani, 3 percussionists, piano, harp, strings)
Written for Mostly Modern Festival and the Mostly Modern Orchestra
Upcoming Premiere: Mostly Modern Festival, Mostly Modern Orchestra, Date TBD, Arthur Zankel Music Center, Saratoga Springs, NY, USA.
Publisher: Bill Holab Music

Program Note (In Progress)

Symphony No. 1 is the first of four symphonies I am planning that are based on themes having to do with the four ancient elements: earth, air, fire and water, but with an underlying ecological theme. In this sense, these works are loosely related to (or perhaps expansions on) themes presented in A New Eaarth, my work for chorus, orchestra, and narrator that is about climate change.

Symphony No. 1 is inspired by the four phases of a wildfire: Incipient (Pre-Heat, Pre-Ignition), Flashover (Flames), Fully Developed (Transition), and Decay (Smoldering, Glowing). The first movement, Firestarter, begins as a pastorale: images of a forest filled with birds, streams, and the sounds of nature. In the middle of the movement, a fire begins as a single spark that begins a long crescendo. The second movement, Blaze, begins attacca and represents the fire itself: a large, bright, hot, fiercely burning fire that consumes the forest. The third movement, Decay: Smoke and Embers, represents the aftermath: a decimated landscape, smoke rising from the ground, burning embers gradually losing their glow, and a decay into total darkness. The final movement, Regeneration, represents renewal: a regeneration of the forest, and a rebirth of humanity and the world around us.

Symphony No. 1 is written for the Mostly Modern Festival and the Mostly Modern Orchestra.