Symphony No. 3 [2009 Version]

The subtitle of my Symphony no. 3 is taken from one of the slow movements of my Serenade (for Accordion and String Quartet, 2004). A Dream Catcher belongs to Native American lore, it is a small loop with a feather attached, a device supposedly trapping the good dreams, letting them filter down to the sleeper. In my symphony, however, things evolve in a far less benign way. After a fast-paced “wake-up call”, scored for full orchestra, I introduce the “Dream Catcher”-tune from the Serenade, letting it creep up on the listener from behind, played entirely by the strings. Then the tune undergoes a full symphonic transformation, before it “disappears” seamlessly into the second (and last) movement, a Scherzo of extreme velocity and savagery. One could claim, that what really happens “behind the scenes” in the symphony is the tale of Beauty being devoured by the Beast, a symphonic journey with a less-than happy ending, open to all sorts of individual, metaphorical interpretations.