Music / Orchestral / Lungs
Lungs
for full orchestra
Commissioned by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and premiered 29 January 2022 at Bunjil Place, conducted by Benjamin Northey.
In this work, I imagine the entire orchestra as a big pair of lungs. The music swells up and down as if inhaling and exhaling, as melodies intertwine and branch out like tree-like bronchi and bronchioles.
I used this piece as an opportunity to highlight a few of my favourite things that an orchestra can do. It is an exercise in compositional restraint and an exploration of a delicate yet vibrant colour palette. As a wind player and an occasional singer, breath is incredibly fundamental to how I intuit music, and I think that this translates into my string and percussion writing too.
It was a pleasure to write this piece as the first of three commissions in my role as Cybec Young Composer in Residence with the MSO in 2022.