Program note

I was asked by the Chicago Symphony to write a short orchestral work to honor Sir Georg Solti’s 75th birthday. During the summer I vacationed in Italy, and stopped in the magnificent hillside town of Ravello. On Sundays, the multitude of churches in Ravello and the surrounding towns play their bells, each in a different key and rhythm. The cacophony is gorgeous, and uniquely festive. My tribute to Sir Georg attempts to make the sections of the symphony orchestra sound like pealing bells: that tolling, filigreed with birdcalls in the woodwinds, provides the backdrop for a theme that grows more and more familiar as it is clarified. At the end, it is clear and joyous – a tribute to a great man.

– John Corigliano