Opus number: 3

Title: Continuum for orchestra

Instrumentation: picc-1-1-English hn-1-bass clarinet-bassoon-contrabassoon; 1-2-1-1; 2 perc, hp, pf; strings

Date written: 1971, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina

Length: 8 minutes

Premiere performance: Johnson, Vermont, Composers’ Conference,The Vermont Symphohy , Efrain Guigui, conductor,

August 1973

Important subsequent performances: RAI Orchestra of Rome, Massimo Pradella, conducting, November 1984; orchestral reading, The Juilliard Orchestra, 1980, Richard Fletcher, conductor

Program notes: The piece was written in 1971 when the composer was a sophomore at East Carolina University and a student of Gregory Kosteck. The title of the single-movement work refers to the gradual change of color from the lowest, darkest instruments that gradually moves to the higher and clearer sonorities in the highest-pitched percussion at the conclusion of the work. Even though the color passes from the dark to the light, the structure of the piece is distinguished principally by the discontinuity of the development.