RUIN [ SCORE & PARTS ]

RUIN is written for and dedicated to David Leibowitz and the New York Repertory Orchestra. As a creator, I like to consider other elements of the performance beyond the notes on the page, and my initial inspiration for the work came after hearing the ensemble in the space they rehearse and perform in. With stars on the ceiling and larger-than-life acoustics, I wanted to write something that was of the cosmos. The piece begins like space itself: vast, deep, empty, and barren. We become lost in this unending expanse of fractal colors. Suddenly, we collide with a comet: a volatile impact of sound from the entire ensemble. Fragments from that impact scatter and create the fragments of the themes that permeate the work. Muted brass voices become tinged with the red and blue shift of the doppler effect. The chaos subsides and, for a brief cosmic moment, there is an aching realization of life. A civilization rises and falls, then dissolves once more into the void in a whirl of color. Everything eventually succumbs to the paradoxical stasis born from the unceasing motion of the spheres. In the end, we return to RUIN: from a place similar to where we began.