a ghost wandering in a world grown alien
for symphony orchestra and audio playback
As a composer, Sergei Rachmaninoff was a man out of time. While his contemporaries such as Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Prokofiev, and Arnold Schoenberg were creating bold new works of Modernism and atonality, Rachmaninoff clung to the Romantic traditions of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Mussorgsky. When asked about his musical style compared to his contemporaries in an 1939 interview, he responded, "I feel like a ghost wandering in a world grown alien. I cannot cast out the old way of writing and I cannot acquire the new. I have made an intense effort to feel the musical manner of today, but it will not come to me."
a ghost wandering in a world grown alien was commissioned by the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, who requested a work which explored
nostalgia and responded to the work of Rachmaninoff. This piece imagines Rachmaninoff wandering in this alien musical landscape where he encounters manipulated and twisted quotes of some of his most beloved works, including the Second and Third Piano Concertos, the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, and the C# Minor Prelude, juxtaposed by quotes from Stravinsky and Schoenberg.
a ghost wandering in a world grown alien was premiered by the Toledo Symphony Orchestra on May 13 and 14, 2022 in the Peristyle Theater in Toledo, OH. The commissioning of this work was supported by the Edward Schmidt Musical Arts Fund.
a ghost wandering in a world grown alien was commissioned by the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, who requested a work which explored
nostalgia and responded to the work of Rachmaninoff. This piece imagines Rachmaninoff wandering in this alien musical landscape where he encounters manipulated and twisted quotes of some of his most beloved works, including the Second and Third Piano Concertos, the Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini, and the C# Minor Prelude, juxtaposed by quotes from Stravinsky and Schoenberg.
a ghost wandering in a world grown alien was premiered by the Toledo Symphony Orchestra on May 13 and 14, 2022 in the Peristyle Theater in Toledo, OH. The commissioning of this work was supported by the Edward Schmidt Musical Arts Fund.