Light (1997)
for large orchestra

 

Instrumentation:  3(pic)3(ca)3(bcl)3(cbn)/4231/timp.3perc/hp/str   

 

Orchestral Reading Project competition prize recipient, American Composers Forum and Plymouth Music Series Orchestra, Philip Brunelle conductor, Minneapolis, MN 1999

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COMPOSER'S NOTE

Light, version for large orchestra
Light is a musical portrait of the magnificent power of the human spirit. The piece defines itself through melodic interplay, dance rhythms, and a juxtaposition of instrumental voices and textures. The bold opening statement returns repeatedly, like the creative pulse of the life force itself. As the work moves through dynamic and rhythmic contrasts, a landscape of rich orchestral colors is revealed. After exploring new pathways and thematic variations, the piece becomes quiet and slowly rises upward, as if reaching toward the light, then concludes with a bright flash of hope and optimism.
  Drawing from contemporary classical as well as traditional folk and rock music gen- res, Light is in one single, five-minute movement. It was originally written for wind quintet, as a tribute to composer Liz Vantrease, and was premiered in that format in 1992 by the Virginia Commonwealth University Faculty Wind Quintet in Richmond, Virginia. I rescored the work for large orchestra in 1997 to further investigate its expressive potential with a broader, more colorful instrumental palate. In that version, Light was selected for a first reading as part of the American Composers Forum’s Orchestral Reading Project in 1999 and played by The Plymouth Music Series Orchestra, conducted by Philip Brunelle, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
  The public premiere of this version of Light was given by the Manassas Symphony Orchestra, James Villani, conductor, at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas, Virginia, on December 4, 2021.

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First reading:  Plymouth Music Series Orchestra, Philip Brunelle conductor, 1999

 

Public premiere:  Manassas Symphony Orchestra, Jim Villani conductor, Hylton Performing Arts Center, Manassas, VA, 2021