Symphony No. 2 for orchestra

Symphony No. 2 (Introspections) has been conceived as a single unit, although it consists of three movements. Autobiographical in nature, it is based on two principal ideas. The first, which opens the symphony, is a sonority of seven pitches, serialized and appearing throughout the composition in various combinations. The second, a Greek folk tune sung by the composer as a ten-year-old, is heard as he remembered it after many years. The first idea is dissonant, the second consonant, and together they create sequences of tension and resolution throughout the work.

Symphony No. 2 was commissioned by the Baton Rouge Symphony Orchestra and is dedicated to its Board of Directors, Executive and Musical Directors, and the composer’s fellow symphony musicians. It was completed in 1983 and premiered by the orchestra on February 21, 1984, under the direction of James Paul. This piece was submitted to the Louisiana Division of the Arts and won an Artist Fellowship Award, which funded the recording of the work with Vienna Modern Masters.