Harbinger
2007 | orchestra or concert band | Op. 8 No. 1
duration: 4:00
orchestration: *322*3/4331/tmp+3/str
Program Note
Harbinger considers in musical terms the classic theme of the stalwart individual as the forbearer of progress. The impetus for this idea came from a George Bernard Shaw quote I came across while work on my first composition for full orchestra. That quote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man,” brought to mind memories of the other individualist-themed novels I read during my formative teenage years–works and ideas that left a powerful imprint on my psyche and thus my motivations as an artist. I was also thinking of paying homage to my own musical heroes, whom I see as having been harbingers of progress in their own time and place.
orchestration: *322*3/4331/tmp+3/str
Program Note
Harbinger considers in musical terms the classic theme of the stalwart individual as the forbearer of progress. The impetus for this idea came from a George Bernard Shaw quote I came across while work on my first composition for full orchestra. That quote, “The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man,” brought to mind memories of the other individualist-themed novels I read during my formative teenage years–works and ideas that left a powerful imprint on my psyche and thus my motivations as an artist. I was also thinking of paying homage to my own musical heroes, whom I see as having been harbingers of progress in their own time and place.