4 Minutes in a Nuclear Bunker
for orchestra
(1995)
3 (picc.).3 (cor). 3 (bass cl.) .3(contr)
4.3.3.1 hrp, timp+2 strings
duration: 4’
GRT • 028
audio sample
score
available from
Australian Music
Centre
program note
This piece is
dedicated to the English novelist, Martin Amis. Living
under the constant possibility of nuclear holocaust has
been a theme of his novels that has stayed with me. In this
piece, I wanted to create a psycho-emotive 'tone-poem'
based on the following predicament:
News emerges of a launched nuclear missile attack. Panic
spreads; people are running in different directions. Some
find their way down into a bunker. Various doors are
sealed. Amidst the palpable adrenaline rush, these people
nevertheless perform the necessary routine and duty with
speed and diligence. Then they gather in a specified area
and wait. This is where my piece begins. The shouting has
stopped. Only heavy breathing is audible. Nobody speaks.
The next three minutes represent the waiting game. It is
slightly damp, cold, claustrophobic and so quiet that the
head begins to hum in anticipation. This humming continues
to build and distort until there is a blinding flash,
visible through a narrow protected screen. The blinding
light has a purity to it and brings a sense of relief. The
waiting is over. But what is left? What is it like up on
the surface? I imagine that I can hear distant songs of
children in unrelated time and key.