Composer’s Note:

Solar Winds are discharged from the sun in a continuous flow of charged particles. Reaching the earth’s magnetic field, they set off amazing displays of light, called the aurora borealis. While my piece is not really programmatic, this image is hopefully captured in the music. The music is somewhat through-composed in five sections, although with a brief return of the material from the beginning. A, Allegro Risoluto, is characterized with dense, dissonant sonorities in driving rhythms. In B, Allegretto grazioso, the texture thins out with a playful, fragmented melody. A more lyrical melody is introduced in the horn in C, Moderato, and is treated canonically. D, Molto Allegro, begins with a transition to a return of sonorities and rhythms of the beginning. The final section, E is a sort of coda in 3/2, returning to the dissonant sonorities of the beginning, but moving to Molto Allargando and then Adagio before ending on a Perfect fifth.