Compositions by Bill Alves

Information about River of Stars

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Instrumentation:
Orchestra: 3/2/2/2 2/2/2/1 3 perc. 1 kbd, strings.

Duration: c. 9:30

Notes:
The title for this work comes from a similar description I have come across in several unrelated visionary accounts, including Dante's Paradisio. Though I have not tried to directly represent them, these dream images of flowing light seemed evocative of some qualities of slowly changing colors and brilliant flashes I was trying to achieve in this work. Among the techniques I used to effect these shifting patterns of tones is the English folk art of change ringing, a mathematically-based method of continually permutating the order of bells rung in a church tower.

Major Performances:

• February 1990, USC orchestra
  
• August 1990: Los Angeles Philharmonic Institute Orchestra (reading)
  
• October 1990, Boston: New England Philharmonic Orchestra
  
• April 1992, Santa Monica Symphony