- Augusta Read Thomas
Spirit Musings (1997)
(for Violin and Chamber Orchestra)- G Schirmer Inc (World)
Flute Concerto No. 1 was commissioned by Thomas Van Straaten
'Spirit Musings' is a transcription of Flute Concerto No 1.
- 1121/1100/perc/hp/str (5.4.3.3.1)
- 1121/1100/perc/hp/str (1.1.1.1.1)
- Violin
- 10 min 30 s
Programme Note
Composer Note
My favorite moment in any piece of music is that of maximum risk and striving. Whether the venture is tiny or large, loud or soft, fragile or strong, passionate, erratic, or eccentric — the moment of exquisite humanity and raw soul! All art that I cherish has elements of order, mystery, love, recklessness, and desperation. For me, music must be alive and jump off the page and out of the instrument as if something big is at stake. I think of my music as nuanced lyricism under pressure.
This artistic credo leads me to examine small musical objects (a chord, a motive, a rhythm, a color) and explore them from many perspectives. These different perspectives reveal new musical potentials thus developing the musical discourse. In this manner, and in Spirit Musings in particular, my music takes on an organic, circular, self-referential character, which, at the same time, has a forward progression. As I write, I often feel that the emerging piece is the articulated search for the piece... (like it's hungry and has to play itself out in order to satisfy itself). The transformative nature of my musical progressions — through temporal, harmonic, textural, registral, and timbral spaces — attempt to imbue my pieces with an irrepressible sense of color, motion and rapture. I am madly in love with music and I want that energy to come across in my music. Spirit Musings was selected by Tanglewood as one of the 15 best works that was performed during the first 10 years of Seiji Ozawa Hall and as a result is on the Ozawa Hall Celebration CD.
— Augusta Read Thomas
My favorite moment in any piece of music is that of maximum risk and striving. Whether the venture is tiny or large, loud or soft, fragile or strong, passionate, erratic, or eccentric — the moment of exquisite humanity and raw soul! All art that I cherish has elements of order, mystery, love, recklessness, and desperation. For me, music must be alive and jump off the page and out of the instrument as if something big is at stake. I think of my music as nuanced lyricism under pressure.
This artistic credo leads me to examine small musical objects (a chord, a motive, a rhythm, a color) and explore them from many perspectives. These different perspectives reveal new musical potentials thus developing the musical discourse. In this manner, and in Spirit Musings in particular, my music takes on an organic, circular, self-referential character, which, at the same time, has a forward progression. As I write, I often feel that the emerging piece is the articulated search for the piece... (like it's hungry and has to play itself out in order to satisfy itself). The transformative nature of my musical progressions — through temporal, harmonic, textural, registral, and timbral spaces — attempt to imbue my pieces with an irrepressible sense of color, motion and rapture. I am madly in love with music and I want that energy to come across in my music. Spirit Musings was selected by Tanglewood as one of the 15 best works that was performed during the first 10 years of Seiji Ozawa Hall and as a result is on the Ozawa Hall Celebration CD.
— Augusta Read Thomas
Media
Violin Concerto No. 1 "Spirit Musings": I. Spirited, clear and energetic
Violin Concerto No. 1 "Spirit Musings": II. Resonant and elegant
Violin Concerto No. 1 "Spirit Musings": III. Majestic and lyric
Scores
Reviews
The opening work on this program, Spirit Musings (1997), for violin and large chamber ensemble, is an ecstatic 10-minute score. As the instruments dart and shimmer with intensity, the violin skirts above the fray, abuzz with zigzagging thematic lines that provoke responses from the ensemble. The violinist Courtney Orlando played the demanding solo part with tireless energy and bright tone.
9th April 2005
Thomas' Spirit Musings made a strong impression in its Chicago premiere. A chamber concerto for violin and 15 instruments, it draws much of its power from her instincts as a colorist. Her imagination seems fired by a quasi-French obsession with color....But her voice remains distinct and personal.
Augusta Read Thomas's Spirit Musings is exploratory and rewarding. All music moves sequentially through time, but each movement of this piece seems entirely and simultaneously present while the composer leads the listener's ear around and over it...the whole piece is like a silver globe struck by the sun.
Discography
Music for Strings
- LabelNimbus Alliance
- Catalogue Number6263
- Released10th July 2015

- LabelAlbany Records
- Catalogue Number347
- ConductorEdwin London
- EnsembleCleveland Chamber Symphony
- SoloistLaura Russell (Violin)