"PERPETUAL SUMMER": PART ELEGY, PART APOCALYPSE
An expression of my passionate feelings and about global warming and climate change, Perpetual Summer is scored for large orchestra with electronic elements (amplified, processed solo string sextet and synthesizer). Elegiac, even apocalyptic in tone, the work paints a vision of our planet on which summer never ends - - giving rise to an ever-increasing surge of fires, floods, and storms - - and represents a call to action both personal and collective. In this work I establish a dialogue between soloists and orchestra in a manner typical of the Baroque Concerto Grosso. A group of six solo strings is amplified and processed to offset it from the rest of the orchestra, together with simulating a harpsichord sound. Summer from Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’ appears as a found object: Amplified, extended, and intensified. The modern orchestra, with its greatly expanded percussion resources, inspires a dynamic interplay of weights and densities. The Vivaldi gestures are transformed in a battle of light and shadow which unfolds across the canvas of a thirteen-minute trajectory. Perpetual Summer was commissioned by the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in celebration of its Fiftieth Anniversary in 2010 and revised in 2012. The world premiere recording of the revised version was made by the New England Conservatory Philharmonia in 2022. The audio was just posted, and the video was posted a bit earlier this year. I feel that their performance, under conductor David Loebel’s leadership, captures Perpetual Summer’s apocalyptic quality and the elegiac lyrical line in the work’s final section. Thank you to David Loebel, to all of the players in the orchestra, and to our sound engineers who worked on the electronics for making this recording.