The second movement of Shattering Suns by Stephen Taylor. Duration: 3'45"
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mp3 file (3.6 MB)
Watercolor and pastel by Hua Nian.
Shockwave: Into the Maelstrom, in contrast to the slow tempos of
the first movement, begins fast and constantly accelerates. The melody, starting
in the muted brass, swerves crazily to avoid colliding with spiralling figurations
in the other instruments. Sometimes the two converge, and after a series of
these violent collisions, the melody disappears in a fiery cascade. This movement
was partly inspired by a scene in The Empire Strikes Back, in which
the spacecraft Millenium Falcon must navigate through a field of asteroids
hurtling towards the ship: the dizzy feeling of plunging into a dangerous
storm.
Copyright © 1998-2001 by Stephen Taylor, [email protected]