Lachryme is the 5th movement to a very large, as yet unfinished, symphony – Cosmonomicon. The symphony begins with the beginning of the universe, appropriately entitled Con fuoco (with fire). Unlike the glassily frozen beginning to the world depicted in Mahler’s first symphony or the majestic stability of the opening of Strauss’ Also sprach Zarathustra, Con fuco shows a world born of intense energy and chaos. This ball of heat cools in the second movement, Celestial mechanics, into a slowly rotating portrayal of the cosmos. Canti vivae moves closer to home, and in a simple but lively texture, it depicts the evolution of life on earth. Darkness creeps into the picture in Scherzo macabre (danse humana). The history of humankind through war & discord is recorded with dark humor.
Lachryme literally means tears, and this work was originally subtitled “weep for our souls.” This is the most personal of the five movements, and it reflects on how such a beautiful and awe-inspiring world can contain such misery and desolation. The final bars, however, point toward a different resolution.
The symphony ends with Adoramos, which expresses a final acceptance of our infinitesimally small place in the cosmos, and reflects how the fantastic size and sweep of the universe overwhelms our personal desires and pain. That a true internalization incredible smallness in the face of empty space, gives us a better understanding of God.
The movement that you will hear tonight, Lachyme, is deceptively lyrical and direct. It pushes the string orchestra to function as both an orchestra and as a very large chamber group. It is at times divided into as many as 16 parts and uses 10 different soloists. Its lyrical flexibility is, perhaps ironically, created by using precise and complex combinations of rhythm. At many points in the work parts of the ensemble are dividing the beat into 3 parts, while the remainder divide the beat into 4 parts. In addition, these divisions are further subdivided. However, rather than sounding merely chaotic, the result is an achingly intense stretching of the beat. I find these rhythms such as 4:3 that exist on the boundary between order and chaos to be both fantastically interesting and musically rich.
The harmony of this work is constructed using a new harmonic framework I’ve developed that utilizes harmonic circles other than the circle of 5ths to generate modes and harmonies. These circles are beautifully symmetrical, but yield rich and fascinating new harmonic motions.
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