Wilson: The Phoenix

Description

Composer's Note:

"The Phoenix" is the Grand Prize winner of the Realize Music Challenge for new orchestral music sponsored by Notion Music, Inc. and the London Symphony Orchestra. The inspiration for The Phoenix comes from the myth of the legendary bird cyclically reborn out of fire. The dramatic aspects of the piece center on ideas of regeneration springing from moments of crisis. Exploring a wide dramatic range, The Phoenix consists of three movements, all linked and played without breaks. "Crossing the Horizon," contains the darkest and most mysterious moment in the work and toward the end we hear the mythological bird sing. "Fire and Transformation" develops a motive with incessant rhythmic drive and leads relentlessly to a climax in which the principal materials of the work are consumed in a series of searing chords. A transition leads directly to "The Phoenix Rising" which, with increasing rhythmic energy, symbolizes the mythological bird's rising from its own ashes.