for string orchestra (2017)
5.5.3.3.1
duration: 5’
GRT • 197
YouTube
CD available
Collective Wisdom
ACO Collective
ABC Classics, ABC 481 7374, 2018
score available from
Australian Music Centre
program note
While we don’t directly feel the constant physical rotation of the Earth, we observe the Sun rising in the east and setting in the west. We synchronize our clocks to this daily cycle and organize our lives accordingly. Each new day brings something new and this piece is written in the spirit of finding anything good, beautiful, joyous and worthy along the way. It was commissioned by the Hush Foundation in support of adolescent mental health and written for the Australian Chamber Orchestra as a partner for Hush 18.
reviews
“The oeuvre of Stuart Greenbaum frequently concerns the cosmos and in The Rotation of the Earth it is our world that he describes. Constant momentum in the music expresses the daily cycle by which we synchronise our lives. The composer writes that “each new day brings something new, and this piece is written in the spirit of finding anything good, beautiful, joyous and worthy along the way.” He deftly conveys that optimistic mood.”
Gwen Bennett, Music Trust E-zine, October 2018
“I was fortunate to attend the world premiere concert in Sydney. Stuart Greenbaum’s The Rotation of the Earth opened the program. This was a buoyant, cheerful and frolicking cyclic orbit featuring the rich velvet tones of the cellos. Then the music glided into a sweeping circular expression of joy and promise.”
Rose Niland, The Culture Concept Circle, October 2018
“Stuart Greenbaum’s “The Rotation of the Earth” sounded like a cross between baroque and children’s music. It had a quintessential Australian sound as can be heard in the likes of a Peter Sculthorpe work. Its relative conjunct rhythms bounced along like a children’s song sung out by the strings and the leading cello.”
Rob Kennedy, CityNews Canberra, March 2020
“Accompanied by spectacular, mainly Tasmanian, scenic imagery on two large screens, this enterprisingly chosen World Environment Day concert with the Hobart Chamber Orchestra began with Stuart Greenbaum’s ‘The Rotation of the Earth’ (2017). Upbeat and cleverly suggestive of circular movement, the music had an attractive and consistent momentum, making it a perfect start to the program.”
Peter Donelly, Tas Music Reviews, June 2022