Description

The material used for Shadows has a clear connection with that in the beginning of Act III of my third opera, The King Goes Forth to France. This is no coincidence, for the orchestral prelude was composed immediately after the completion of the opera’s second act. Thus the conception of this piece was also for me a kind of prelude before I embarked on writing the third and last act of The King.

Yet Shadows is in form an entirely independent orchestral work, although its lyrical and dramatic ingredients reflect the philosophy of the opera.

© Aulis Sallinen

Instrumentation

3333 4330 14 1, pno, str [pic+fl, fag+cfag, cl+bcl.]

Category

Works for Orchestra or Large Ensemble

Opus no.

op.52

Premiere

National Symphony Orchestra, cond. Mstislav Rostopovich, Washington DC, November 30, 1982.

Commisioned by / dedications

Composed for the National Symphony Orchestra (USA) and its conductor Mstislav Rostropovich.

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