The Green Ray
composer: Gavin Bryars
for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra
Dedication: for John Harle and the Bournemouth Sinfonietta
Premiere: 6 July 1991 Swanage (UK), St. Mary's Church · John Harle, soprano saxophone · Bournemouth Sinfonietta · Ivor Bolton, conductor
Orchestra instrumentation: 1(pic).1.ca.1(bcl).2(cbsn)-2.flhn.1.0-perc(glsp, tub bells, 2sus cym, tam-t, b.d)-pno-str(6.5.4.3.2 minimum)
Publisher: Schott Music
Duration: 20' 0''
Year of composition: 1991
Edition: performance material
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Description
The Green Ray is the title of a romantic novel by Jules Verne, set in the West of Scotland, in which a peculiar atmospheric phenomenon plays the key part. A "green ray" is seen at sunset in certain latitudes, and in certain coastal conditions, just as the sun touches the horizon and, for a brief moment, the orange sun emits a green ray of light. In the Verne story the simultaneous sighting of the ray will seal a couple's love, and the attempts of a young man to do this are constantly frustrated (by sudden clouds, by a yacht passing along the horizon, and so on). Gavin Bryars
Recordings
Gavin Bryars · A Portrait (2003)
Gavin Bryars- Cello Concerto (Farewell to Philosophy)
- The Green Ray - for soprano saxophone and chamber orchestra
- Adnan Songbook
- One Last Bar, Then Joe Can Sing
- The Sinking of the Titanic
- Les Fiançailles
- The North Shore
- Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet - Single
PHILIPS / UNIVERSAL CLASSICS
473 296-2
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