Duration: 6'15"

Instrumentation: 2222 4231 T+2 Hp Pno Strings

Composed Summer 2017

 

Selected for the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra's 2018 Jean Coulthard Readings.

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A Battle Story takes us through a (somewhat romanticized) war experience. Wars are often started over simple matters, which grow and develop into bigger problems; likewise, the piece features the simple motif of do-re-mi-mi, throughout in many renditions; becoming the backbone of the piece. 
The piece starts on foggy plains. It's hard to distinguish what is to come, but whatever it is, we know it's there. Battle calls sound and chaos ensues. A disorienting melody rings out in 7/8, until calmness envelops the battlefield as the first wave ends. A glorious anthem, derived from the simple theme, rings out in a burst of patriotism, but soon enough, we are brought back onto the battlefield with the ominous, foreboding sense of war...