Sontsovka (2018)
20mins
2.2.2.2/2.2.1/timp.2perc/str
Commissioned by Queensland Youth Orchestras
Premiered 19 June 2018 by Queensland Youth Chamber Orchestra under the composer at the Old Museum Building, Brisbane
Around the time that I received this commission, I had been listening to quite a lot of twentieth century music. I decided, just as Prokofiev had payed homage to Haydn by way of his First Symphony, that I would pay homage to Prokofiev. Conveniently, 2018 marked the 100th year since the premiere of that "classical symphony." I took inspiration for Sontsovka from Prokofiev's Fifth and Seventh Symphonies, the Scythian Suite, Romeo and Juliet, and other works by the Russian master.
Sontsovka was the small village in Ukraine (then the Soviet Union) where Prokofiev was born.