Prayer

for full orchestra
6′
2014

2(2nd dbl. Picc.) 2(E.H.) 2 2 – 2 2 0 0; Timp. Hp. Str.

Program Notes

My music is often an emotional reaction to personal experience. I composed Prayer shortly after finding out that a close family member was seriously ill. The piece is a prayer for hope and healing through the powerful language of music.

Prayer begins with the viola rising gently out of simple harp arpeggios. The piece flows seamlessly from beginning to end, with two main arcs, in which the melody works its way up to its highest registers in pleading gestures, and falls back down to a place of peaceful resolution.

Originally, Prayer was composed as the second movement to my Concerto for Viola and Orchestra. I arranged it as a stand-alone piece for orchestra in 2014 for the New Jersey Youth Symphony with artistic director Jeffrey Grogan. The piece also exists in an arrangement for piano and viola.

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