Opus number: 3
Title: Continuum for orchestra
Instrumentation: picc-1-1-English hn-1-bass clarinet-bassoon-contrabassoon; 1-2-1-1; 2 perc, hp, pf; strings
Date written: 1971, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
Length: 8 minutes
Premiere performance: Johnson, Vermont, Composers’ Conference,The Vermont Symphohy , Efrain Guigui, conductor,
August 1973
Important subsequent performances: RAI Orchestra of Rome, Massimo Pradella, conducting, November 1984; orchestral reading, The Juilliard Orchestra, 1980, Richard Fletcher, conductor
Program notes: The piece was written in 1971 when the composer was a sophomore at East Carolina University and a student of Gregory Kosteck. The title of the single-movement work refers to the gradual change of color from the lowest, darkest instruments that gradually moves to the higher and clearer sonorities in the highest-pitched percussion at the conclusion of the work. Even though the color passes from the dark to the light, the structure of the piece is distinguished principally by the discontinuity of the development.
