ORCHESTRA WITHOUT SOLOIST
2*2*2*2 4*3*3*1 Timpani, 2 Perc. (Tamtam, snare drum (concert), 2 wood blocks, 1 bongo (high), high suspended cymbal, high triangle, crotales (bowed and struck), brass wind chimes. Perc. 2: whip, snare drum (military), 1 bongo (medium), bass drum, medium

Duration: ca. 10 minutes
Composed: 1999

Programme Note: Utterances was commissioned by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra through a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts, and was premiered in 1999.  The central idea of the piece is that small phrases hold profound meaning and have an impact that is permanent.  The potential for real change can occur when people get swept up in the sentiment of any particular statement.  The sentiment can be positive or negative; as simple as love or hate.  The English Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote, “a single word even, may be a spark of inextinguishable thought.”; and much earlier Horace proclaimed that “once set out, a word takes wing irrevocably.”

From this inspiration comes a one movement piece lasting roughly ten minutes.

Premiere: First performance by the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, Edmonton, February 10, 1999.Prizes/Awards: winner: 3rd Place, Alexander Zemlinsky Prize for Composition