Winner of FIVE International Recording Awards
"... the sounds of nature course through the orchestral pieces on his latest album "Unfinished Earth," with a primitive force and melodic insistence that recall Stravinsky."
—The New Yorker
Unfinished Earth Score
INSTRUMENTATION
1.2.Pic, 1.2.Eh, 1.2.Bscl, 1.2.Cbn; 4, 4, 1.2.Bs, 1; Timp+3; Pno; Hp; ST (14,12,10,8,6)
DURATION
c. 33 minutes
FIRST PERFORMANCE
Premiere performance: CCM Philharmonia, Mark Gibson, conductor
Corbett Auditorium, University of Cincinnati
Cincinnati, USA, March 11, 2016
RECORDING
Brno Philharmonic, Mikel Toms, conductor
Besedni dům, June 10-14, 2017
Brno, CZECHIA
VIDEO INTRO AND EXCERPTS [6 Min.]
This work is driven: romantic yet thorny, expressive with edge, concisely expansive with high-wire drama and keening melodies. A dense, passionate and personal three movement orchestra work—UNFINISHED EARTH—teems with heavy emotional edge and tenuous line.
Reminiscent of Lutosławski, Stravinsky and Mahler, this is powerful contemporary music from a new individual voice, with brilliant and exacting performances by the Brno Philharmonic and conductor Mikel Toms.
Unfinished Earth is a long and deep work cast in three movements, and delving into the constant degradation and reformation of earth and sea. Just as the earth slowly changes and evolves, we ourselves are constantly evolving through the deepening of our life experience, the processing of life’s joys and tragedies, and the inner passage of our turmoils and triumphs. Tempering, the first movement, is about the formation of earth and the molten rock that is risen from the subterranean earthen smelter to become land. For me, this is a movement about becoming, and through such becoming, firming in our senses of self, just as earth does as it becomes land. Eternal Ocean, the second movement, evokes the shifting currents of deep ocean, again, as a metaphor for the unfocussed and at times even conflicting currents of the inner emotional worlds of the human experience. The final movement Tearing Drift is again a work with multivalent meanings: some referring to the ripping apart or fractures in the earth’s surface as might happen in an earthquake perhaps; to the alternative meaning of the first word of the title not as being torn but as crying. This notion of an earth cry or deep subterranean swell of grief was a central image and intent of this movement. The strident wind and brass microtonal peals and screams against the strong percussive thrust of this movement was intended to reflect such an earth cry—or even the Munchian silent scream of isolated man.
—Douglas Knehans
**** "...wonderfully orchestrated... dynamic and endlessly evolving..."
—BBC Music Magazine
“… an exciting and truly spectacular recording.”
—Remy Frank, Pizzicato
Winner of three silver medals at the Global Music Awards:
ALBUM
COMPOSITIONS/COMPOSER
SOUND EDITING/SOUND MIXING
Best Classical Album
BEST ALBUM
Contemporary Classical
BEST PRODUCER
Contemporary Instrumental
“Unlike many of his colleagues, Knehans does not write music coming close to film music. His tone poems always are an expression of dramatic sensations or of poetic sensitivity. In the Brno Philharmonic's performances the brilliantly orchestrated works leave a durable impression."
—Remy Frank, Pizzicato
“A set of dramatic works celebrating the natural elements. Unfinished Earth is dynamic and endlessly evolving.
****
—BBC Music Magazine
"This is hugely exciting music; the recording should be mentioned, too, as it carries a real punch and allows myriad details to shine through."
—Colin Clarke, Fanfare Magazine
“…the final movement's savagery - I've not heard a coda of such brutal ferocity in a while - well attest to the work's subject matter. Unlike many of today's composers, Douglas Knehans (b. 1957) doesn't use the cookie-cutter, cut and paste approach with his music. This previous review of some of his choral music bears witness to his versatility and originality. Definitely a composer to keep on your radar.”
—Jean-Yves Duperron, Classical Music Sentinel
