musica pyralis

for orchestra

orchestra

Edition: Performance material

Hire Order

Product Details

Orchestral Cast

2(2.pic).2.2.1.cbsn-4.2.2.1-timp.3perc(I. vib, lg sus cym, med tri, lg tri, capiz shell (or glass) wind chimes; II. vib crot, s.d, bng, course ceramic tile, guiro; III. tub bells (2 oct), b.d, hi-hat, med sus cym, sm tri, guiro-hp(detuned).pno-str Woodwinds double on harmonicas of various tunings; see performance notes in score for details.

Content

Most of my music tries to filter the sights and sounds of my surrounding environment through the instruments I'm writing for, rather like a musical sieve. In musica pyralis, [Music of the Firefly], the orchestra sings the summer soundscape of my home in rural Connecticut, where, thanks to little light pollution, fireflies bashfully illuminate the nightly cacophony of frogs and crickets and many other little creatures. Nature is the best orchestrator – despite the saturated soundscape, each noise-maker can hear and be heard as they occupy distinct registral and timbral niches. I try to capture a glimpse of this miraculously transparent density in this (mostly) brisk concert opener, and set to song the gently omnipresent twinkle of the phontinus pyralis – the Common Eastern Firefly.

– Katherine Balch

More Information

Title:

musica pyralis

for orchestra

Edition:

Performance material

Level of difficulty:

intermediate - advanced

Publisher/Label:

Schott Music

Year of composition:

2023

Duration:

11 ′

World Premiere:

February 16, 2024 · Pittsburgh, PA (USA)
Heinz Hall
Conductor: Manfred Honeck · Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra

Commissioned work :

Commissioned by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra through Amplifying Voices, a New Music USA initiative with funding in part from the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation, and by the New York Philharmonic, Santa Rosa Symphony, Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and Erie Philharmonic