dedicated to Richard Sassoon
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Story behind the song
"Leela" (or lila) is the Sanskrit word for the play of the divine. "Conjunctio" is a Jungian term which referes to the field (or "third thing") between two people, in which subconscious and unconscious forces operate, and which has a life of its own.
I started this piece after listening to Gorecki's third symphony, which I found very inspiring. I wanted to write something for orchestra, but found myself thinking this was not something I knew how to do. But then I went ahead anyway. There is a story I like which says that the bumblebee, according to the laws of aerodynamics, should not be able to fy -- but that he doesn't know about aerodynamics, so he flies anyway. And so it was with me attempting my first orchestral work.
I wish now I had not called this set of pieces a symphony. Strictly speaking, it does not follow the classical symphonic form. If I could rename it now without a lot of work, I would have simply called it a suite of orchestral pieces.
This suite explores musically various phases, joys, and challenges of a close relationship with another. Each movement relates to an actual phase of such a relationship in my own life.
There are 5 movements in total. If you like this movement, you may enjoy the others as well. They are all available here on my soundclick site. They are:
mv 2 "Pure Land" - those of you who are old Who fans will hear, at the end, echoes, in the strings of Love, Reign O'er Me from the Quadraphenia album. Yeah, really.
mv 3 "Nigredo" - at times everything becomes dark and difficult. If those times can be weathered, they are followed by a "union".
mv 4 "Beloved"
mv 5 "Union" - in this movement, there is a 30 second reference to The Last Words of David, by Randall Thompson, a choral piece I love. The reference is to the part of that piece whose words, as far as I can remember, read:
"And he shall be as the light of the morning --
even a morning without cloud.
As the tender grass springing out of the earth,
by clear shining, after rain...."
This suite, or symphony, is dedicated to Richard Sassoon, with love.