STRING ORCHESTRA WITH SOLOIST
SOLO OBOE, minimum 6•6•4•4•2
Duration: ca. 12 minutes
Composed: 2000
Programme Note: We have just come out of our most violent century. War, terrorism, and other atrocities produced death and suffering unrivaled in our history. Ancient hatreds, passed from generation to generation, continue to fuel conflicts that are now supported by modern weaponry, which can provide permanent and immediate consequences to human rage on a global scale.When I began working on this piece, the peace accords in Northern Ireland and the Middle East were once again in peril, the war in Kosovo was still raging on, India and Pakistan had recently conducted nuclear tests as a backdrop to the ongoing conflict in Kashmir, and there had been yet another school shooting. Add to this the everyday acts of violence to which we have become accustomed, and the question at the top of my mind was: What is wrong with us? Are we fundamentally flawed? Is seems incredible to me that as we learn more about ourselves an
Premiere: First performance by Lawrence Cherney and the Soundstreams Ensemble, Toronto, May 9, 2000.