Year of Composition

2009

Duration

15'

Instrumentation

String orchestra

Categories

Orchestra

Movements

I. Street Musicians
II. Marine Mosaic
III. The Sybil Speaks
IV. Chiron Teaches Achilles to Play the Lyre
V. Ash: Awareness of Mortality.

Other Versions

Version for clarinet, piano, percussion, and strings

Program Note

Based on frescoes and mosaics in Pompeii, the seven movements begin with "Street Musicians," a raucous band dancing and playing the tarantella on tambourine, finger cymbals and flute. "Marine Mosaic" depicts fish and other sea creatures gracefully swimming. "The Sybil Speaks" shows three masked women, one of whom chants mysteriously. "Chiron Teaches Achilles to Play the Lyre" shows the old centaur Chiron demonstrating how to play the instrument to the young Achilles, who gratefully receives his instructions. "Ash: Awareness of Mortality," inspired by Pompeii’s tragic doom, expresses the Romans philosophical acceptance of death.

— Victoria Bond

Audio/Video

Purchase Sheet Music

Print Score and Parts (Protone Music)
Digital Score and Parts (Protone Music)

Commercial Recordings

BOND, V.: Instruments of Revelation / Frescoes and Ash / Leopold Bloom's Homecoming / Binary (R. Müller, Jenny Lin, Vinokur, Chicago Pro Musica) (Naxos)