*Orion (for orchestra)

Claude Vivier (1948-1983): Orion, for orchestra (1979)

Composer's Notes

A melody on the trumpet, again the trumpet, as in Kopernikus, instrument of death in the Middle Ages (see the film by Bergman and read l’Office des morts).

Orion consists of six sections: statement of the melody, first development of the melody laid upon itself, second development of the melody laid upon itself, meditation on the melody, remembrance of the melody, and finally the melody in two intervals.

Eternal homecoming, as in History with a capital H, which always waits impatiently for the return of its redemptive saints and its dictators. I have the impression that I’m sitting still on an airplane; I remain in the same place and yet I go from Cairo to Kuala Lumpur.

Go and find out for yourself!

— Claude Vivier