Update Title: F0B82E94-3B5D-4C03-841D-A757D0291FED

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The initial idea for Januaries, a work in which there are distinctive and disparate impressionistic qualities, was generated by some thoughts on the legend of Janus, the Roman god of doors, gates, beginnings, and endings.  The fact the composer was born in January probably contributed to the development of the concept of the composition and the title.  One perhaps cannot completely dismiss the sense that one's birth month may be somewhat special.

More to the point would be that Januaries is an orchestral work comprised of juxtaposed sections characterized by strongly contrasting moods to form a large, abstract musical structure.

In one continuous movement, there are four major sections that are most noticeably delineated by tempo.  The first section is slow and atmospheric with illusive and fragmented motives in a three-layered texture consistently orchestrated for strings, percussion and winds.

The second section has five sub-sections of varying character encased in framework of ever increasing tempi.  Another feature during this section are virtuosic passages for each of the orchestral family groups.

The third major section is slow and atmospheric and, while recalling spatial aspects of the opening section, the mood here is 'darker' along with a different view of sonic space.  In contrast to previous sections, there is greater use of solo passages that occur over a slow bass figure in canon.

The last major section is an allegro in two parts: the first primarily explores an alternation of passages minimizing accentual conditions (string and woodwinds) with passages containing strong accents and points (brass and percussion).  This particular part also is characterized by a gradual crescendo leading to the second part which is the climax of the work.  The strings carry the thrust of the climax in mirror and responsorial techniques in an extended virtuosic passage which is pulled together with a statement of a previously heard syncopated figure which retards into a very brief and slow coda, recalling the mood which began Januaries.

Of greater importance than the above description of the sectional structure is that Januaries unfolds with either a variations technique or a metamorphosis of several elements or ideas first heard in the opening phrases of the first section: an 8/8 rhythmic structure, modal scalar formulations and a melodic pitch-set, vertical and horizontal spatial relationships, overlapping tempi, and a jazz influence, which manifests itself rhythmically and harmonically on a minimal level and, most significantly, the improvisational quality of melodic lines.
  
Regardless of the compositional procedures and formal structure, the continuous mood shifts are the over-riding and controlling expressions of Januaries. --Frederick Fox

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