"Dance In A White Bay" is a 12 minute, single movement, symphonic work which commemorates the ship and crew of the Edmund Fitzgerald - a Great Lakes ore freighter which sank in Lake Superior during a November storm in 1975, taking all 29 of her crew to an icy grave. The tale of the ship's tragic last voyage was immortalized by the popular Gordon Lightfoot ballad "The Wreck of The Edmund Fitzgerald."
Although the Lightfoot ballad was inspirational in my decision to create this orchestral work, the musical influences originate from sources as far apart as Palestrina, Iannis Xenakis, Notra-dame Polyphony, J.S Bach and Maurice Jarre to name just a few. This diversity is an important part of a compositional style, one of whose attributes is to produce a synthesis and a higher unity between elements of music that have often been artificially labelled, compartmentalized, and dichotomized (eg. "tonality" vs "atonality"; "popular" vs "serious" etc.)
As a symphonic ode,"Dance in a White Bay" is not intended to describe the tragedy of the Edmund Fitgerald and her crew in a strictly narrative sense. It seeks instead to present the tragedy in a broader context, by expressing in music the composer's impressions of the life and spirit of the ship and crew as a whole (see program notes below). This is reflected in both the title and the music itself which conveys a more joyful, serene, and hopeful sentiment, where the profound and tragic loss is tempered by soothing recollections and an unshaken faith in God.
The work was premiered by the University of Akron Symphony Orchestra with Mr. Harry Davidson conducting, at the University of Akron School of Music on Thursday May 1, 1997 in Guzzetta Hall at 8:00 pm.
My thanks to Mr. Davidson and the performers for an inspired and spirited performance.