Symphony No. 4b for Orchestra

Symphony No. 4b consists of only three of the movements of Symphony No. 4, which is an orchestral suite derived from the composer’s opera Antigone and was completed in 1994. The composer began work on his three-act opera, based on the play by Sophocles, in the late 1960's and completed it in 1989. It was premiered in 1993 by the Baton Rouge Opera. Since then, the composer has written several orchestral suites derived from the opera, which have received numerous performances. The Annapolis Chamber Orchestra presented three scenes from the opera at Carnegie Hall in 1994.

The composer is well-qualified to write an opera on this subject, having read and studied Sophocles' work in the original ancient Greek, in modern Greek, and in most of its English translations. The opera, which is performed in English, uses as libretto a 1936 translation of the play by Dudley Fitts and Robert Fitzgerald. This symphony uses as text a translation of Sophocles work from the ancient Greek to English by the composer.

Symphony No. 4 has several performance options: (1) The symphony includes seven movements; however, the text for the last two movements, Paean and Lament of Creon, may be omitted; (2) The symphony may be performed without text using the following movements: Ode I, Interlude, Ode III, and Paean (the Constanta Symphony Orchestra, now the Black Sea Philharmonic, conducted by Radu Ciorei recorded the symphony in this way on Capstone Records' CD "Tonus Tomis..."); and (3) Finally, the symphony may be performed with only three movements: Paean, Interlude, and Lament of Creon, with the two outer movements employing the text, for tenor and orchestra.

Symphony No. 4 has been recorded in its entirety by the Kiev Philharmonic under the direction of Robert Ian Winstin in the series "Masterworks of the New Era".