Cantus (2019 - 21)
2.2.2.2-3.2.2.1-timp.-2pc.-harp-strings | 16'
Cantus is a work for orchestra set in four movements, played attacca.
The work's title draws connections to Gregorian Chant and all the images therein--especially life and eternity. The title is also an oblique reference to Arvo Pärt's Cantus in Memoriam Benjamin Britten; much of the work was composed in reaction to the untimely death of a person close to the composer.
Like the Pärt, the work places clear melodic ideas in changing contrapuntal arrangements, although it does so in a vastly different way. The concept of a "cantus" is also expanded throughout the work's four movements, becoming, for instance, a short motif in the scherzo- like second movement.
In the third and fourth movements, recollections and re-examinations of earlier music play key roles in bringing the arc of the work to a close. The piece ultimately ends enigmatically, fading into an uncertain conclusion that is nevertheless befitting of the emotions explored.
Recording:
I. [-15:52]; II. [-12:18]; III. [-10:17]; IV. [-4:22].
Performed by Eastman School Symphony Orchestra, cond. Grant O'Brien