Stroke (2010)

The most poignant piece is the most recent. Tower wrote Stroke in 2010 as a tribute to her younger brother, whose experiences of being stricken and working his way through recovery are depicted in a series of vivid sonic episodes. The music alternates between violent spasms and moments of touching lyricism, with the full resources of the orchestra used to prismatic and penetrating effect.

Tower wrote the symphonic equivalent of the five stages of grief, reflected in number in five quiet instrumental solos, but more so when the entire orchestra participated. With a retrospective of her output on display this year (she is the PSO's composer-of-the-year), Stroke stands out as perhaps Ms. Tower's most personal work yet.

PSO music director Manfred Honeck brought out the terrifying experience by emphasizing the driving force of the stroke symbolized in percussion hits, string thrusts and excruciating dissonance.

Solos by bassoonist Nancy Goeres, clarinetist Michael Rusinek, horn player Stephen Kostyniak, trumpeter Charles Lirette and guest concertmaster Noah Bendix-Balgley moved from lamenting to peaceful to anxious as the afflicted slowly realizes that life will never be the same again. Ms. Tower ended the work with a tutti glissando that led to a warm, major chord, but it arrived too late and too short to counterbalance the pain and suffering already heard, tempting me to view it as false hope. Many don't survive a major stroke, and none are the same after it.

The piece opens with an evocation of the onset of a stroke, with increasing pressure during a sustained percussion crescendo, a big crash, and then a slow, heavy heartbeat. The heartbeat changes pace during the tumultuous score, with five wind and brass solos providing contrasting moments of calm.

The ending is particularly well judged, with the final harmony in E major having the E and the major third, G sharp, but missing the fifth, B. The statement is of hope, not hope fulfilled.