Hell’s Handbasket (2012)

Chamber Orchestra (16 players) – 10 min.
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Score (Free Download)

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Program Note

If you haven’t heard the old expression “We’re all going to hell in a hand­bas­ket,” well, now you have. Sometimes I find it difficult to disagree with the cur­mud­geon who can feel us all slid­ing down the slip­pery slope into a future where music with sen­si­tiv­ity, cre­ativ­ity, intel­li­gence and taste remains only as a relic of a for­got­ten, irrel­e­vant antiq­uity. But in this piece, any­way, I’m tak­ing sides with the happy hand­bas­ke­teer who says “Chill out, dude, and enjoy the ride.” I’m not sure whether the hand­bas­ket is the funk band riff that opens the piece and grows to an apoc­a­lyp­tic cathar­sis, or the silly lit­tle hook of a tune that is redis­cov­ered in the aftermath.