Juggernaut
Steve Cohen
About this work:
The main work on my piece Juggernaut was begun in April of 2002, and completed in August of the same year. Much of it is based on sketches that go back years, even decades. It is the product of both slow deliberation and feverish impetuosity, and that dichotomy seems central to the sense of conflict and restlessness the music strives to express.
This work has a kinship to the second (scherzo) movement of my Saxophone Quartet No. 2. One could consider the quartet movement a miniature monochrome study an artist might do before tackling a large full-color mural. Both works grew out of my fascination with motor rhythms, and the instrumental means by which one can break up a phrase or a pattern to create the illusion that the players do not need to breathe. I take particular delight in devising passages that sound difficult and virtuostic, but are actually built on elementary principles, are easy to play, and can be tossed off with a flourish.
On top of those purely technical considerations, the music also represents a facing of ones demons, both internal and external.
The dictionary defines the word juggernaut as
1. Something, such as a belief or institution, that elicits blind and destructive devotion or to which people are ruthlessly sacrificed.
2. An overwhelming, advancing force that crushes or seems to crush everything in its path:
There are lots of juggernauts in our lives today, Some are obvious, others are more subtle and deceptive. All of them bear careful watching and listening.
Juggernaut runs about 10 minutes, and is scored for large symphony orchestra. 2 Flutes, Piccolo, 2 Oboes, English Horn, 2 Clarinets (Bb), Bass Clarinet (Bb), 2 Bassoons, Contra-Bassoon, 4 Horns (F), 3 Trumpets (Bb), 3 Trombones, Tuba, Timpani, Percussion, Harp, Piano (doubling on Celesta) and the usual Strings.
Year composed: 2002
Duration: 00:10:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Standard Orchestra
Instrumentation: 1 Piccolo, 2 Flute, 2 Oboe, 1 English Horn, 2 Clarinet, 1 Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 1 Contrabassoon, 4 Horn in F, 3 Trumpet, 3 Trombone, 1 Tuba, 1 Timpani, 1 Percussion (General), 1 Piano, 1 Celesta, 1 Harp
Instrumentation notes: pft(=cel)