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Scoring

2(II=picc).2.2.2-4.2.2.bass trbn.1-timp(=corrugated iron).perc:cyms/finger cyms/4tpl.bl/vib/dr/BD/tom-t/hi hat-harp-strings

Abbreviations (PDF)

Publisher

Boosey & Hawkes / Bote & Bock

Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes for the world.

World Premiere
8/12/2004
Princess Theatre, Launceston, Tasmania
Tasmania Symphony Orchestra / Ola Rudner
Composer's Notes

A few years after my return to Australia, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
commissioned me to write a lively orchestral work that they could premiere
and play on tour. The resulting piece, Heaven is Closed, is a quick,
energetic, rhythmically driven work. Thus, when the orchestra asked me for
a new piece, my instinct was to write something totally different. It grew
out of a passacaglia-like chordal progression which had grabbed hold of me
and wouldn’t let go. I wanted to attempt a direction I had not explored
previously, and that was to stay in a slow, dark mood for a lengthy
period and to see where that took me. Eventually it grew into a kind of a
hymn with variations, sometimes almost romantic, that made extensive use
of the orchestra's brass section. The title Mythic refers to this mental image
I had of musically entering into a large, mythical cave.

For the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games, I wrote a work called Deep Sea Dreaming
which was very much about Sydney and the sea. For this work which will be
premiered at the time of the Athens 2004 Olympics, I decided to reflect on
the Olympics - not in an external way - but in a much more internal way. It
seems that so much has changed and so dramatically since those innocent days of
the 2000 Olympics.

Elena Kats-Chernin

Press Quotes

“The highlight of this concert was undoubtedly the new work by one of Australia’s leading figures in contemporary music… Mythic’s themes relate to Greek narrative and the Olympic challenge… A fantastic evocative piece that shows the genius of this composer’s creativity.
The Mercury


Recommended Recording
cd_cover

Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra / Ola Rudner
ABC Classics 476 7639


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