(2006)

Diamond in the Rough is inspired by the multi-faceted music of Mozart – whose life, like a diamond, reflects and refracts many stories and myths. In the first movement (“Magic”), complex rhythms and unusual orchestrations create different angles on Papageno’s glockenspiel heard in The Magic Flute. Crystal glasses resonate in the second movement (“Fifty-Five Minutes past Midnight”), echoing the exact time of Mozart’s mysterious death on December 5, 1791. The last movement (“Wig Dance”) mirrors the image of Mozart as an avid partygoer who once said he preferred “the art of dancing rather than music.” Duration – ca. 9:00