Samsara
for orchestra
 
Year: 1997
 
Duration: 8'
 
First Performance: 23 April 1997 Carnegie Music Hall Pittsburgh, PA
  Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, Juan Pablo Izquierdo
   
Orchestration:
picc. 3 (III=afl.). 3 (III=cor A). 3 (III=bcl.). 2- 4.2.2.1- timp.- perc.(3): xyl./BD; tam-t/SD/lg. susp. cymb./mtl. wind chimes; vib./tam-t-harp- piano- strings
 
 
 

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Program Notes: 

sam-sa-ra (sem-sär’e) noun
Hinduism & Buddhism.
The eternal cycle of birth, suffering, death, and rebirth.

[Sanskrit samsârah, course of life, samsara : sam, together + sarati, it flows.]

Although I have found many, slightly different meanings for the word samsara,
all definitions seem to carry a negative connotation, as the word always seems to
imply a state of despair. It is created when the posing of questions leads to nothing
but more questions that begin a vicious cycle of confusion that is ultimately never
resolvable. In this sense, samsara is the polar opposite of its counterpart word, nirvana.

 
   

 

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