Patrick Shepherd: Lithosphere (Symphony No. 1) - AUDIO

About

"The inspiration for this work came from an earlier Antarctic-based work, Cryosphere, where I was translating a world of ice into sound. As I read more about Antarctica, I came across another "sphere", the lithosphere, a world of rock. The first movement presented a strong, bass-heavy motif and the second unpacked that in more subtle ways. In this, the third movement, the previous ideas are tied together and brought to a satisfactory and suitably grand conclusion. There is plenty of activity in this movement, with every instrument playing a vital role. The strong bass ideas are still here but they are now more positive, less doom- laden, and there is more space in the scoring. I have also chosen to be very literal in my interpretation, introducing river stones as a key opening motif which reappears throughout the work. I am indebted to Tabea Squire for opening my eyes (or more properly, ears) to this possibility in her score Ao, presented in the 2017 workshop. It was precisely the germ of an idea that unlocked the way for completing the symphony."

Performed by the NZSO and recorded by RNZ Concert for the 2018 NZ Composer Sessions.

Producer: David McCaw
Engineer: Graham Kennedy