Avatar

"Avatar" denotes a divine being taking earthly, human form, and, by extension, the irruption into our physical world of cosmic or spiritual energy, which, in the composer's view, is what music at its finest can aspire to do. Levinson's work, full of bold, colorful sounds and textures, including leading roles for percussion (both wood timbres and metallic, gamelan-like bell sounds) pays tribute to the virtuosity of the Philadelphia Orchestra and to the visionary intensity of its new music director Christoph Eschenbach.