The Symphony for Strings is a transcription of my Sextet for Strings, with the addition of a fourth movement (the Variations). The sextet was itself a commission from Scott Yoo, who premiered the work at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival in July of 2002 (Scott Yoo, Viviane Hagner, violins; Marcus Thompson, Toby Hoffman, violas; Bion Tsang, Toby Saks, cellos).

The three-movement form of the original sextet, where each movement becomes progressively simpler and shorter, was my attempt to construct a sort of emotional pyramid: the first movement (Dance) would be the base, moving through the less complicated and more accessible second movement (Elegy), to the light, quick energy of the third (Scherzo). While I believe the sextet is a successful work in its own right, I will admit that in retrospect the three-movement idea did not work as well as I had hoped. When Scott asked me to do a transcription of the sextet for string orchestra, he also requested the addition of a fourth movement to balance the work out, and make it into a true symphony.

The first movement, Dance, is a large, complex work in itself, about eleven minutes in duration. It makes extensive use of my “star form” structure, a geometrical tool I use to generate musical forms, even at multiple levels simultaneously, as in this case.

For the symphony, I moved the Scherzo into second position. In a traditional symphony a piece of this type would typically appear as the third movement, but with the addition of an energetic fourth movement, I felt the Elegy had to come third.

The Elegy, dedicated to the victims of September 11^th, was originally composed for Metamorphosen immediately following the attacks, and was premiered in its original string orchestra version on September 28^th, 2001. (The New Jersey Symphony also performed it as a stand-alone work for the second anniversary of the attacks.) When I composed the sextet I did the arrangement of the Elegy to serve as the middle movement. So the Elegy, which started out as a separate work, has come full circle: a sextet was later built around it, and now the sextet has been transcribed into a symphony, with the Elegy, back in its string orchestra version, still at its core. [Click here for more information and program notes to Elegy].

The finale, Variations, is indeed a traditional variations movement. This was a challenge for me, because I have not written a set of variations since the obligations of my student days, and I have always found the form inherently a bit undramatic: A theme is stated, then again with a few changes, then again with a different accompaniment, and so forth. I wanted to retain the character of the variations form while somehow making it my own, so I have written three sets of six variations each, a total of eighteen. The first set treats the theme in exactly the way I describe. The second set of six consists of variations on the first set, and the third on the second. In this way each set of variations moves further and further from the original idea, constantly spinning off in a new direction. To signal each cycle, the sixth variation ends the same in each case, creating a kind of refrain, and providing the work’s conclusion.