Symphony: Savage Howls

Commissioned by a consortium consisting of
The University of Oregon Wind Ensemble,Robert Ponto, Director (leader)
The University of New Mexico Wind Symphony, Eric Rombach-Kendall, Director
The Oregon State University Wind Ensemble, Christopher Chapman, Director
The Eastman Wind Ensemble, Mark Davis Scatterday, Director
The Ohio State University Wind Symphony, Russell Mikkelson, Director
Bowling Green State University Wind Symphony, Bruce Moss, Director
The Arizona State University Wind Symphony, Gary W. Hill, Director
Duration: ca. 25 minutes

Symphony: Savage Howls is the third in a lose trilogy of symphonies scored for a variety of
ensembles (the first, a “chamber” symphony, is scored for a large chamber ensemble of 18
instruments; the second is a more traditional work in four movements scored for orchestra) in which I
try to engage the past while maintaining a firm footing in the present and, perhaps, even updating this
venerable genre. Of these three symphonies it is also the most personal and the one which wears its
heart most obviously on its sleeve. The title comes from a line in Stéphane Mallarmé’s “Tombeau de
Charles Baudelaire” and describes the symphony’s bitter, enraged, death-haunted mood.
“Shriekfanfare,” the first movement’s title, is a bastardization of Richard Wagner’s description
of the opening fanfare in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as a “shrekenfanfare,” or “fanfare of terror.”
The entire first movement is an attempt to simultaneously distill and stretch this famous passage’s
sense of horror and rage. The mood gradually relaxes over the course of the movement, but the calm
is short-lived and the rage consuming.
“Mists” is a gentler meditation on loss and memory. It is marked with the last two lines of
Mallarmé’s poem, which read, in Henry Weinfield’s translation, “…A tutelary poison, his own
Wraith,/We breathe in always though it brings us death;” a reflection of memory of those lost,
precious and fleeting in itself, and always reminding us of our own finality.
“…that remedy all singers dream of…”, the finale, is an attempt at a more physical
representation of rage, loosely, through the tropes of heavy metal music (at least as I understand
them). The poetry here is Allen Ginsberg’s, who, in his “Kaddish,” conjuring the Bible, the Buddhist
Book of Answers and Ray Charles, writes that “Death is that remedy all singers dream of.” There is
little singing, however, in this movement, as it is a rather obsessive exploration of a simple rhythmic
figure which is only interrupted by a final “savage howl” which briefly gives way to a lyrical meditation
on transience, memory and loss; “…nothing to weep for but the Beings in the Dream, trapped in its
disappearance…”
Symphony: Savage Howls was commissioned by a consortium of wind ensembles led by the
University of Oregon and its music director, Robert Ponto. It is dedicated to the memory of Steven
Dennis Bodner, director of the wind ensemble and contemporary music ensemble at Williams College,
who died suddenly at age 35 in January, 2011. His death deprived the world of an important advocate
for new music and a talented young conductor whose voice was silenced before he could achieve his
full potential.