Zachry Taburaza

When reading the title of a piece that has the word “passion” in it, I expect a lush and

consonant melody to convey heart-throbbing love. This movement of Stephenson’s symphony

entirely contradicts my initial premonitions. Instead, what I feel is a sense of brooding caused by

the dissonant chords and heavy brass in the beginning. It almost makes me think of John

Adams’s opera ​Doctor Atomic​ for that same reason. That made me start thinking “What other

types of passion is there”. It seems that Stephenson was trying to depict passion in a more

twisted form as if it represents someone’s twisted desires or misaligned views. It does have its

calm moments, but they are always underscored with some kind of reminder of the brooding

beginning, whether it be a slight clash in the harmony or the low brass adding weight to sections

that are seemingly meant to be light. If this movement was personified, I’d say that it is a

passionate person working on an evil project.

One of the more significant orchestration choices within this movement has to do with

the voice and woodwinds. The singer (most likely a soprano or mezzo) blends in vastly different

ways compared to its woodwind counterpart. The voice initiates the melody but is joined by the

English horn on the falling line. The timbral counterplay works in the English horn’s favor since

its more jagged frequencies seem to emerge from the purity of the voice. The fact that the

vocalist has a dedicated part makes this work; only a trained vocalist that has that classical or

operatic tone to their singing can allow for such a pure note to be produced with the voice. This

makes me concerned for any band that decides to do this piece without a trained vocalist.

Overall, this 1st movement seems to float around a similar area in energy. It doesn’t

increase in tempo and is rather slow-paced, most likely to introduce the audience to its themes.