home > composition > bathtub shrine
Bathtub Shrine (2009)
ensemble orchestra (2.2.2.bcl.sax.2.cbn.-4.2.2.1-hp.kbd-strings)
commissioned by Yale Symphony Orchestra
premièred April 19, 2009, Woolsey Hall, New Haven, CT
Yale’s Woolsey Hall is a peculiar acoustic environment;
its high ceiling, shallow stage, and hard, non-porous
surfaces create a staggering 13-second reverberation,
flattering some sounds and completely overwhelming
others (the mighty Newberry organ sounds fantastic;
anything fast or staccato, not so much). The effect is that
of a giant bathroom.
When the YSO asked me to write a piece in memory of
one of their past conductors, I knew I wanted to write
for the hall that the orchestra has struggled with and
triumphed in for some 40 years. I didn’t know William
Harwood (he died the year I was born), but I did play
keyboards in the YSO for several years, experiencing
first-hand the camaraderie and fierce playing that the
group inspires.
That said, Bathtub Shrine is an elegy, based on a chaccone
in parallel fifths. Rising fifths also act as a melodic
impetus, on which first the saxophone and then other
wind instruments ponder, debate, and elaborate (in that
order).
Listen (excerpt)
Toshiuki Shimada, conductor; Yale Symphony Orchetra