Program Notes
BALJINDER SEKHON (b. 1980)
STARS (2019) World Premiere
Duration: ca. 14 minutes
Last summer, Baljinder Sekhon got a call from The
Florida Orchestra with a cosmic assignment: create
a large work for the group, keep it to 15 minutes,
and have it ready for launch by February.
“They said to do whatever I want,’’ said Sekhon,
assistant professor of composition at the University
of South Florida in Tampa. “So when I saw what
else was on the program, I had this idea in mind and
decided to run with it.’’
Sekhon’s idea spans millions of light years, zipping
through galaxies and nebula in the deepest regions
of the universe. In its latest program this weekend,
the orchestra and Music Director Michael Francis
offer the premiere of STARS, taking listeners on a
celestial voyage that includes The Planets by Gustav
Holst and the Nocturnes of Claude Debussy.
Sekhon, whose works have been presented in
more than 500 concerts in 20 countries, calls his
piece a “sonic exploration of stars’’ from different
perspectives. The music depicts how stars are
born out of swirling gas, the community of stars
that make up a constellation, and how they spark
our imagination in the night sky. The musical
narrative includes different pitches that reflect
individual stars, chords that make up galaxies, and
the twinkle of their light through the atmosphere.
Sekhon devoted himself to studying astronomy and
cosmology, and found that science can lend itself
well to musical analogy.
“I’ve done a lot of reading about stars and my
research changed drastically what I thought this
piece would be,’’ he said. “As I learned about
the complexity of astronomy, the work became
complex. Then I realized this is a huge thing to
tackle.’’
STARS opens with the orchestra suggesting the pull
of gravity that brings the elemental gases together,
then depicts fusion with a percussive explosion that
sends light across space. Musical pitches intensify
and overlap, and galaxies take on their own distinct
harmonies through a flutter of solo instruments.
STARS ends with a night sky teeming with tiny
points of light that symbolize our fascination with
the cosmos.
THE FLORIDA OR 40 CHESTRA | 2018-2019
“I wanted to create a musical system that acts like
the stars, but metaphorically,’’ Sekhon said. “As
a whole, the work presents a range of characters,
from heavily percussive moments to a distant
twinkling of sound.’’
CLAUDE DEBUSSY (1862-1918)
NOCTURNES
Duration: ca. 25 minutes
Debussy was first labeled an Impressionist in 1887,
and as much as he disliked being associated with
the movement in visual art, he never shed the stereotype.
He once wrote to his publisher about a new
work: “I’m attempting something different … what
imbeciles call Impressionism — just about the least
appropriate term possible.’’
In truth, Debussy was more in line with the Symbolists
than a band of painters who experimented with
the interplay of light on the canvas. The Symbolists
used vague syntax and metaphor to evoke elusive
meanings that nonetheless struck the emotions.
Debussy found inspiration for his groundbreaking
Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun from a voluptuous
and erotic poem by the influential symbolist Stephane
Mallarme. It unfolds on the edges of tonality,
and in some ways throws the concept of form out
the window. With this music, Debussy freed himself
from traditional classical development for a more
spontaneous expression. It would, in short, change
music forever.
In a pivotal work that follows, Nocturnes, his
free floating, abstract sound world is in full
bloom. Debussy composed it as a musical triptych
completed in 1900 and inspired by a painting
of the same name by James McNeill Whistler.
With its ever-changing textures, shifting shapes,
novel brass procession and wordless women’s
chorus, Nocturnes serves as a prelude to another
Debussy masterpiece, La Mer (The Sea).
In the program notes for the first performance,
Debussy offered his own thoughts on each movement:
“Nuages (Clouds) portrays the unchanging
aspect of the sky, with the slow, melancholy motion
of the clouds, dying away in shades of grey softly
tinged with white. Fêtes (Festivals) represents the
movement and dancing rhythm of the atmosphere,
with sudden flashes of light; then an episode of a
procession passing through and merging with the
festivities. Sirènes (Sirens) evokes the sea and its innumerable
rhythms; then, among the silver of the