AFC970DE-BBB3-4F35-897A-D6BD99ADA0E8

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IDAFC970DE-BBB3-4F35-897A-D6BD99ADA0E8
TitlecodeR00174
Title NameAntiphonies
Marketing Copy(not set)
Instrumentation0.2(1d English Horn).0.2: 2.0.0.0: Piano: Strings (minimum 6.5.4.4.2)
CommissionCommissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra
Dedication(not set)
Program NotesAntiphonies was commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and completed in 1992. It is essentially a concerto grosso for virtuoso chamber orchestra, slightly reminiscent of Baroque style, and cast in a single 16-minute movement. The title reflects two important aspects of the piece. First, it is antiphonal: several musical ideas are tossed about by the various smaller ensembles that make up the whole - a quartet of double reeds, a pair of horns, solo piano, solo strings and tutti strings. Second, the solo strings introduce an antiphon-like, modal melody (of my own composition) fairly near the beginning of the piece. This melody recurs a number of times and becomes the central idea of the last large section, an extended adagio. At the very end of the work the music seems to disappear, almost in a puff of smoke. Czeslaw Milosz, whose poetry I was reading during the composition of Antiphonies, captures the essence of it:
We are riding through frozen
fields in a wagon at dawn.
A red wing rose in the darkness.

And suddenly a hare ran across the road
One of us pointed to it with his hand.

That was long ago. Today neither of them is alive,
Not the hare, nor the man who made the gesture.

O my love, where are they, where
are they going
The flash of a hand, streak of movement, rustle of pebbles.
I ask not out of sorrow,
but in wonder.

Czeslaw Milosz, 'Encounter' from 'Bells in Winter'

--Donald Crockett
Title Brand2
Year Composed1992
Copyright Number(not set)
Copyright Year(not set)
Duration15
Ensemble Size13
Date Created2008-10-31 20:31:17.000000
Date Updated2025-09-30 20:31:17
Inhouse Note(not set)
Bsc Code(not set)
Text Author(not set)
Premier Performance Memo(not set)
Recording Credits(not set)
Review"...The 'Adagio' finale grips the listener most poignantly..." --Daniel Cariaga, Los Angeles Times<BR><BR>

"In his 1992 Antiphonies, Crockett...created music both highly sophisticated and immediately accessible... the piece has a wonderful crystalline quality: Musical impulses remain clearly distinct and airy, even as they jostle simultaneously on the sound canvas. The orchestration is masterful. There's a wonderful racing energy to Antiphonies, produced from ideas quickly tossed about (hence the title), and yet it doesn't shy away from lyrical beauty. Even Crockett's use of canon, an often austere device, elicits poetic effect--it's as if sounds are dropped in pools of water and we hear the expanding rings..." <BR>--Timothy Mangan, Los Angeles Times
AwardsWinner of the Kenneth Davenport Prize
Title Category7
Title Movements(not set)
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Title Instrument Category TextFull Orchestra
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Title Sub Category31
Title Instrument Header41
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Clean Urlantiphonies-r00174