Dreams and Whispers of Poseidon

Symphonic poem for orchestra

Dreams and Whispers

of Poseidon

A symphonic poem by Lera Auerbach — an orchestral sea of dream, myth, submerged memory, and elemental force.

Year 2005
Duration 16′
Scoring For
orchestra
Publisher Sikorski
Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski Score and Rental Material Abbreviations PDF

Dedication

In memory of the lives taken by the sea on December 26, 2004.

World Premiere

27 March 2005. D. Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles — American Youth Symphony, conducted by Alexander Treger.

The Work

Dreams and Whispers of Poseidon is a symphonic poem for orchestra. Its title opens a mythic seascape: not a literal narrative, but an orchestral field in which the sea-god’s presence is felt through dream, pressure, distance, and resonance.

Written in the shadow of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, the work is dedicated to the memory of those whose lives were taken by the sea. Its mythic surface carries an unmistakably human act of mourning.

A symphonic poem of depth, tide, dream, mourning, and submerged force.

Work Information

Full Title
Dreams and Whispers of Poseidon
Year
2005
Genre
Symphonic poem.
Scoring
3(=picc,afl).3(=corA).4(=bcl,asax).3(=dbn)-4.3.3.1-timp-perc(4): tgl/tple.b/BD/cyms/tam-t/t.bells/glsp/xyl/crystal glasses/vib/musical saw-hp(2)-theremin-cel-hpd-pft-org-str(16.14.12.10.8)
Abbreviations PDF
Duration
16′
Dedication
In memory of the lives taken by the sea on December 26, 2004.
World Premiere
27 March 2005 — D. Chandler Pavilion, Los Angeles; American Youth Symphony; Alexander Treger, conductor.
Publisher
Published by Sikorski .
Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski for the world.
Availability
Rental.
Rental
Score and rental materials: Zinfonia .

Orchestral Frame

The orchestral title evokes the dual nature of the sea: vast and intimate, violent and secretive. The word “dreams” suggests suspension and inner vision; “whispers” suggests distance, submerged speech, and the half-heard voices of myth.

  • Sea The orchestra becomes a field of depth, turbulence, and resonance.
  • Myth Poseidon appears not as illustration, but as a presence and pressure.
  • Dream The work inhabits a state between image, memory, and motion.
  • Mourning The dedication grounds the mythic sea in human loss.
Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski logo

Publisher and Materials

Published by Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski. Score and rental materials are available through Zinfonia.