| This concertante for organ & orchestra was commissioned by the Westphallisches Philharmonie for the baptism of their new portable organ, & (initially) to go alongside Holst's The Planets.
The solo instrument as Sun, commanding the seven planets, giving them their sizes, scope, orbits, speeds, & articulating their traditional natures--- Venus amorous, Mars martial, Jupiter jovial, Saturn saturnine, Mercury mercurial (&tc)---separately explored, whirled together, eventually joining in a dance with Organ/Sun taking the lead---the Music of the Spheres.
This naive pictorial/allegorical scheme was initially run past my colleague Stephen Hawking, who condoned it with a slow twinkle, & gave permission for the result to be dedicated to him.
A sort-of appendix, Zodiac Song, was added in 2017: setting for 4 solo voices & piano verses of John Ruskin encapsulating the 12 Zodiac Signs with their seasonal characters and celebrating their fusion into one integrated personality. |
