Opus 521

Orbital (2003)

for Orchestra

2.2.2.2/2.2.2.0/1perc/3obbligato vlns/strings

Duration: 4 min.

Dedication: for Georges Lentz

Commission: Commissioned by New Music Tomorrow

Publisher: Musik Fabrik

Performance materials available from the publisher.

Orbital (2003) for orchestra was commissioned by New Music Tomorrow and is dedicated to composer Georges Lentz.

The work is a brief meditation, played throughout at a slow tempo and a generally quiet dynamic level. After an atmospheric introductory section which hints at the principal material, the work slowly traverses a grid of pitches and intervallic structures—each instrumental group orbiting at its own pace. The musical material is derived from a modified whole-tone scale (in its prime form: C, D, E, F#, G#, A#, B).

The poetic image was of watching a distant planet, slowly orbiting—amid the vast expansive void of outer space.