Ceasefire, for orchestra, SCORE

3:20

Commissioned by the South Bend Symphony Alastair Willis, conductor for performance on January 9, 2022. Focusing on the notion of the military embedded in civil society, as presented in Georges Seurat's painting La Grande Jatte. Notes on Ceasefire that I read to the audience just prior to the premiere: “In composing Ceasefire, I focused on the three people in military hats, one a bugle player, the other two listeners standing at attention. No one else seems to pay them any mind. You will easily hear the military reference in the snare drum each time it occurs. Even when there is a seeming musical ceasefire, the rhythm always reasserts itself, first in the accompaniment parts, then more boldly in the percussion. And therein lies the sort of metaphor I rely on in much of my composing, something that allows a wider application than the specific original inspiration. So, a military ceasefire can occur in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a congressional ceasefire might allow a bipartisan agreement, and a ceasefire in a relationship conflict might make it easier to get through the holidays. But many ceasefires serve only to kick the can down the road where the conflict can reignite again.”