ORCHESTRA WITHOUT SOLOIST
2*2*2*2 4*3*3*1 Timpani, 2 Perc. (brass wind chimes, 5 roto-toms, pod rattle, 3 susp. cymb., offstage chimes; bass drum, tamtam, 2 tom-toms, crash cymbals, bowed crotales) Piano, Strings

Duration: ca. 14 minutes
Composed: 1995

Programme Note: From the Drum Comes a Thundering Beat. . . was commissioned by the CBC for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.  During the early stages of work on the piece, I was reading a Zuni legend called “The Four Flutes”.  The legend is about how the Zuni people wished for new music, but didn’t know how to make their wishes become reality.  They consulted the elders at the Cave of the Rainbow and were shown music and dancing that began with a drum-beat so loud, it shook the entire cave.

For me, this described the creative process I was entering into, and also the physics of bringing energy and substance to something which had been inert.  It is not gentle or e

Premiere: First performance by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra conducted by Bramwell Tovey, Centennial Concert Hall, Winnipeg, January 23, 1996

Prizes/Awards: Top 10 at the International Rostrum of Composers, Paris, 1996.

Sample: