Secondary Colors

Episodes for Orchestra (2006)

Premiere: July 16, 2006; Orchestre national de Lorraine; Jacque Mercier, conductor; at the Arsenal(Metz, France).

Commission: by Centre Acanthes

Orchestration: 1+pic.2(ca).2.1+cbn/4.2.2.0/timp.2 perc/hp/str.

Duration: 11'

Availability: Study score for Sale. For performing materials, for hire. For either, please request through contact page.  

Program Note

Although scored for full orchestra, Secondary Colors is essentially of a piece with Barnson’s music for string quartet. Like the quartets, it is an exploration of extended string performance techniques, but with the unconventional quality of the individual part-writing expanded to encompass the ensemble texture. Meanwhile, the winds, brass and percussion stand apart, augmenting and punctuating the music of the strings.

Structurally, Secondary Colors is episodic. Originally written as a series of short movements, the episodes were linked by the composer in advance of the premiere, in order to underline the unity of the sequence as a whole. 

-Daniel Stephen Johnson