For orchestra

Dialogue

With Time

An eight-minute orchestral work by Lera Auerbach — compact, concentrated, and suspended between motion and memory.

Opus op. 39b
Year 1997
/ 2006
Duration 8′
Publisher Boosey & Hawkes
/ Sikorski

World Premiere

13 February 2007. Chicago, Illinois — Roosevelt University Orchestra, conducted by Stephen Squires.

The Work

Dialogue With Time belongs to Auerbach’s orchestral catalogue as a brief but highly charged encounter with musical time: compressed in duration, but expansive in implication.

The title suggests not simply the passing of time, but a confrontation with it — a musical exchange between pulse and suspension, memory and arrival, what has already sounded and what still approaches.

A compact orchestral meditation on time as pressure, memory, and motion.

Work Information

Full Title
Dialogue With Time
Opus
op. 39b
Year
1997/2006
Scoring
For orchestra.
Duration
8′
Instrumentation
3(=afl).3(=corA).3(=bcl).3(=dbn)-4.3.3(=btrbn).1-timp: perc(3): tgl/chimes/BD/cyms/gong/xyl/glsp/vib-hp-cel-pft-str(16.14.12.10.8).
Abbreviations PDF
Commission
No commission listed.
World Premiere
13 February 2007 — Chicago, Illinois; Roosevelt University Orchestra; Stephen Squires, conductor.
Publisher
Territory
This work is available from Boosey & Hawkes / Sikorski for the world.
Rental
Score and rental materials: Zinfonia .

Orchestral Frame

The score uses full orchestral forces with expanded winds, brass, harp, celesta, piano, percussion, timpani, and strings. Its scale is symphonic in color, while its duration remains concentrated and aphoristic.

  • Time The subject is not narrative time alone, but time as musical pressure.
  • Orchestra Full orchestral color is compressed into a concise single movement.
  • Memory The work feels retrospective and forward-moving at once.
  • Concentration A short duration holds a larger emotional and structural arc.

Publisher and Materials

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