Threnody for Orchestra (2024)

Details

I started this piece in Mar 2022, as a reaction to Russia's illegal and unwarranted invasion of Ukraine. There are two main motifs. The first is a modified cryptonym of Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich - DSCH (D-Eb-C-B), which is introduced by the trumpet. I use D-Eb-C#-C instead. The second is drawn from the Ukrainian national anthem and is first introduced by the trombones playing Eb-G-D-G-C. The instrumentation if 2F, 2Ob, 2Cl, 2Bsn, CBsn, 2Hn, 2Tp, 2Tb, BTb, Perc., Strings.