Symphony No. 2: introspections: for orchestra

Abstract

Symphony No. 2 (1983) is in three movements, but has been conceived as a single unit. Autobiographical in nature, it is based on two principal ideas--a sonority of seven pitches, serialized and appearing throughout the composition in various combinations; and a Greek folk tune that the composer sang as a ten-year-old, heard as he remembers it after many years.

The first material is dissonant, the second consonant, and together they create sequences of tension and resolution throughout the work. Symphony No. 2 was commissioned by the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and is dedicated to its Board of Directors, Executive and Musical Directors, and my fellow symphony musicians.