Symphony No. 2

In 1983, I was selected by composer and conductor Harold Farberman to participate in a new program which was being developed by the Conductors? Institute. This program was being created in order to encourage closer collaboration between young American composers and conductors. My involvement with the Institute, then situated in West Virginia, led to the completion and premiere of my first symphony, the commissioning of my second symphony, many performances of other works, and numerous additional professional opportunities. Later, as Dean of the Hartt School, I had the honor of hosting the Conductors? Institute each summer. Symphony No. 2, subtitled ?Genesis/Antietam,? was commissioned and premiered by the Millbrook Center Chamber Orchestra of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, in 1984. The biblical quotations, taken from the Book of Genesis, provide the programmatic context: the world before man, the world with man, the annihilation of man and a return to a world without man. Antietam is a reference to the American Civil War battle which took place just a few miles north of Shepherdstown. During my residency there, I realized that the second movement of my symphony was actually a depiction of this bloody battle. To say I felt spiritually connected would be an understatement. Dare I take the leap and proclaim I was at the Battle of Antietam? The seventeen-minute work is in three movements, and it is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, two percussionists, and strings.