MILLENNIUM

Two highly contrasting movements depict the battle for world dominance during the 3rd Millennium. The first movement, ART of the STATE, is a wild, viral journey at mm=164. In extreme contrast, the second movement depicts the serenity of a Love Inviolate.

The piece utilizes an orchestration that has been ongoing in the STORMWORKS story, that of the Band of the 3rd Millennium.

MILLENNIUM was commissioned for the 1997 Internationale Festiche Musiktage Uster. Unlike most "storm" works, the piece stops after its 2nd movement. But, via motif, theme, and extended composition, it is connected to THE FIRST & THE LAST and then forward to WAIT of the WORLD.

MILLENNIUM and THE FIRST & THE LAST combine to make a 5-movement work, but the movements can also be interchanged to create more flexibility in programming.

Please visit the Score and Score Notes for more detailed information.

3 Movements:

A continuation of Millennium, this work depicts the final confrontation between Good and Evil. It begins with a viral fragment. Like a disease (this piece was written in 1995), the motif twists and multiplies in and around the ensemble, ending irresolute. It folds to In the Hollow of the Heart... bittersweet. For this is where the "real" battle ensues.

In the Battle at Meggido... we experience the triumphal theme of Good pitted against the viral theme of the Dark.

All 5 movements from Millennium and The First & The Last are interchangeable and offer many choices to the Conductor. WAY of the WARRIOR is its WPIM Counterpart.

Teaching strategies include a synopsis of the work's harmonic vocabulary, making for expedient teaching of the technical component.

In fact, this work was the subject of a Doctoral Thesis.

3 Movements: "I" of the STORM! is a Fugue for Wind Symphony and Woodwind Soloist. There are C, Bb, and Eb solo parts for any of your woodwind players who need to be featured! The second movement is a bittersweet, haunting ballad entitled, No One Knows. At the center of the piece, it is also the center of the Chapter 2 album, rendering another layer of message.

The third movement is an Epilogue which takes the Main Fugue and delivers it in a spine-chilling and dramatic conclusion! The Band parts are Grade 4. The solo, while working in scalar lines, is fast, sensational and demanding. (Grade 5 or 6).

There is also a version for Actor and Orchestra. Please use this to order. In an email or phone call, let me know that you want the version for Actor and Symphony Orchestra.

3 Movements:

In Plato's allegory, THE CAVE, Man is deprived of knowing the Truth, but in this story, we are given the chance to escape the darkness and move with hopeful purpose into the Light! Spine-chilling drama guides us to the Glorious conclusion!

Many interesting and contrasting musical concepts from tuning, phrasing, exploration of rhythmic intensity and vast dynamic changes present themselves for a great learning experience. The piece is deceivingly accessible, while at the same Time demanding a high level of Musical expression and giving.

Chapter 2 was recorded by Rundfunk Blasorchester Leipzig, 10 years to the day after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

STORMLore: Traveling with an Italian band, we stopped at a small hotel in Switzerland for espresso. Snow outside. Warmth inside. The Italians let me order in Italian. When they introduced me to the manager, he suddenly gasped… then stood up and walked away.

Twenty minutes later, he returned carrying an old drum and a mallet.

He began playing quarter notes. Slowly. Then he added his voice: “Bum… Bum… Bum… Ba-ba-ba-ba… Bum… Bum… Bum…”

Then he said… well never mind. It was a beautiful thought, nice to hear, especially in a foreign country.

For me, Escape from Plato’s Cave operates on many layers, mathematical, coded, symbolic, and deeply biographical.

Please see the Score Notes for more.

This is how the cave finally opens. Not with noise. With light.