Composer’s Note:

Catharsis is a work which I continues some of the processes I used in my three Expansions, where each note is surrounded by an “aura” of other notes, creating a framework of continuous simultaneous and overlapping melodies. A simple harmonic framework is played throughout on the wind instruments. The melodies are played mainly by the strings, and in the louder sections, by other instruments. The work progresses from a soft beginning to a climax, and then recedes to the texture of the beginning. An extended passage before and after the climax concentrates in the lowest instruments, with prominent materials in the tuba, double basses and bassoons.