The Infinite Reaches

Year Composed:	2023
Instrumentation:	2.2+eh.2+bcl.2+cbsn/4.2.3.1/timp+2 perc/hp/strings
Duration	10 minutes

Program Notes

When presented with the rare opportunity to compose a work inspired by one of Richard Strauss's tone poems, I gravitated immediately toward Death and Transfiguration, whose gripping, transcendent musical narrative resonated powerfully with my own creative sensibilities. At the same time, its central, existential question -- what lies beyond death -- had begun to occupy my own thoughts with increasing regularity.

Many months would pass, however, before I could transform these thoughts into a coherent musical imperative. Eventually, after more than one episode of creative paralysis, I found my 'gateway' in the form of an ancient myth: the Greek myth of Charon, the ferryman who transports the souls of the dead along the river Styx to the realm of Hades. This image provided the spark for the music's opening: a heaving, churning ostinato in 9/8 that begins in the lowest depths of the orchestra and gradually ascends to its highest registers. This dramatic association allowed me to seek refuge in metaphor; by depicting a mythical journey along the shores of the underworld, I felt free to explore the emotional and psychological terrain of Death and Transfiguration without explicitly following in Strauss's footsteps. (Having said that, I did include a reference to Strauss's iconic Transfiguration theme; here, it is quoted once in its original form before being inverted, so that its opening three notes are followed by a vertiginous plunge an octave below -- a despairing mirror image of transcendence.)

Transcendence arrives, all the same, although its appearance is sudden rather than 'earned.' After a series of climaxes, in which cyclonic gusts of brass are whipped into an apocalyptic frenzy, the storm clouds part, and we are offered a brief glimpse of a pastoral, divine place. The repeated notes of the opening are transformed into a luminous melody that, I hope, will feel as though it has always existed. A moment of discord disrupts this vision of paradise; soon, a dirge-like cello solo leads the orchestra back into its deepest registers, with the barest hint of a major chord hidden beneath the bass drum's rumble.

The title, The Infinite Reaches, is derived from Alexander Ritter's description of "man's sought-after transfiguration," in which the protagonist of Strauss's narrative is embraced by the "infinite reaches of heaven." I have stripped the quotation of "heaven," not because I am lacking in my own spiritual intuitions, but because I felt that ambiguity was crucial to this work: it is a title that suggests both everlasting light and the void of the abyss.

Performances

• November 22/23, 2023 - National Arts Centre Orchestra, conducted by Alexander Shelley. National Arts Centre, Ottawa

Commissions and Awards

• Commissioned by the National Arts Centre Orchestra.