Update Title: A54D4D03-C80C-43E1-84DD-5C4E4848158C

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Turning is a one-movement composition for large orchestra, completed in 1986.  It has three primary sections differentiated by tempo: slow-moderate-fast.  The first section is quiet and unfolds very slowly.  A feeling approximating suspended animation gradually gives way to an upward drift.  Beginning ambiguously, this drift becomes increasingly obvious as the first climax draws inexorably closer.  It is a gentle climax, which settles down in to a duet for oboe and English horn, followed in turn by a violin solo.  The first section closes with an ascending passage; this ascent, though compressed temporarily, has a more relaxed quality owing to its more stable harmony, a steady, deliberate pacing (in contrast to the accelerando of the first ascending passage), and a more directly communicated structure.  The mild tension created by this passage is gently released by a consonant, softly articulated final chord.

The second section is distinguished from the first, not only by a tempo change but also by long-range registral and dynamic contrasts.  Section I rarely ventured below middle C or beyond various shadings of soft dynamics.  In contrast, Section II has a low center of gravity, resulting from the very low E pedal tone that serves as a tonal foundation for the entire section.  Though the pedal tone is introduced quietly at the beginning of Section II, the volume soon ranges between the various dynamic levels, which are common to the other parts of this composition, are generally avoided in Section II.  While the "bluesy" quality inherent in the musical building blocks of this work is only hinted at in Section I, its prominence in Section II is exaggerated by the steady thumping of the bass drum and by the use of "swing" rhythms.

A transition featuring intricate percussion soli over long-sustained orchestral chords occurs between the second and third sections.  While maintaining nearly the same tempo as Section II, this passage serves as transition to the much faster Section III by replacing triplets with sixteenth-notes.

The final section of Turning is virtually perpetual motion.  From the opening piano solo to the final crashing chords, the steady stream of sixteenth-notes is interrupted only twice -- once to clarify the section's first climactic arrival point and once to allow for a second massive build-up to the closing cadential chords.  In contrast to the terraced dynamics of Section II, this section contains several long, drawn out crescendos between dynamic extremes and passages that compress the large-scale registral contrasts of Sections I and II into a few measures.

A wide variety of textures may be found in Turning, from the sparsely accompanied violin solo in Section I to the extremely dense passages found in Sections II and III.  One type of textural elaboration is the presentation of the same or similar ideas at slightly different times.  This may result in either canon or heterophony, depending on the context.  Another common technique is the layering of several different musical ideas, each having a simple and easily identifiable character to facilitate maintaining its independence when competing with other musical events happening simultaneously.  The two techniques are even used concurrently, as in the climax of Section II when the brasses enter with quarter-note triplets.  No fewer than four distinctly different musical ideas are presented at the same time, and two of those ideas are simple three-voice canons (with the canon in the brasses having three-part harmony on each of its three voices).  This passage and others of comparable difficulty in this work make virtuoso demands on both the orchestra and the conductor as the composition urges both to explore the extremes of power and sensitivity of which they are capable.  --Mark Phillips

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