3 Movements
Symphony of Alcoves has three short movements, making up a 12-minute work. It was begun in the summer of 2001 and was completed in October 2002. The title draws on the image of an alcove--a small, recessed extension of a room, often with an arched opening. Each movement might be seen as a room in a house. The outer "rooms" have alcoves (three in the first, two in the third), with each alcove having both its own identity and its own intimate relation to the main room. Each alcove also has its own instrumental character, carved from the full orchestra of the main room. A "secret passageway" of sorts recurs in each of the three rooms and serves to connect them. The second room is the smallest of the three, too small for its own alcoves, and almost an alcove itself within the whole piece. It is entirely unified by the continuous alternation of 3/8 and 7/16 meters, but with two distinct sections, rounded out by a short return to the first section.
