Still, lately I've been moving away from the orchestra. I love the orchestra as much as ever. It remains one of the richest and most subtle of musical media. Given unlimited resources, it would be my first choice. But the practical realities of the orchestra are formidable.
Performances are hard to come by, and all too often under-rehearsed.
So like many other American composers, from Joan Tower and Steve Reich to Lou Harrison, I'm beginning to feel that the heart and soul of my music may be better supported elsewhere. The symphony orchestra is no longer available to composers as an instrument of change. As a result, much of today's most exciting music is not being created for it. It's not that composers have lost interest in the orchestra. It's just become prohibitively expensive.