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Commissioned by the Mid-Columbia Symphony
This is an overture which is characterized by opening and expanse, as might be associated with the passage of one millennium into another.
The work opens with a quiet introduction in the strings. Flutes spiral upward and off into space. Movement is slow.
Then, a theme of rising fourths and fifths unfolds in the trumpet and horn. This theme moves into the strings and winds. The music continually accelerates forward, alternating between thematic statements (rising fourths and fifths) and countermotives (falling stepwise patterns). The climax is reached in a full statement of the theme in the brass. A coda follows in which the introductory material is now stated triumphantly.
The musical language for Overture 2000 is simple, straightforward and open. The intent is to portray the freshness, cleanness and energy of a new millennium.
Notes by the composer