Call of the Cicadas (excerpt)

Meira Warshauer

Excerpt from premiere performance by Western Piedmont Symphony, Hickory, NC.

Symphony # 1: Living, Breathing Earth was commissioned by a consortium of three orchestras: Dayton Philharmonic Orchestra, South Carolina Philharmonic, and Western Piedmont Symphony. Here the Western Piedmont Symphony plays part of the first movement.

The title Living, Breathing Earth came to Meira in contemplating the image of the rainforests as lungs of the earth. She felt our planet, alive with all variety of creatures and plants living in symbiosis with each other, breathing in and out, and the planet as a whole, pulsing with breath. She also contemplated the earth rotating through space, a spinning orb of blue and green, at just the right distance from the sun to support life, and our protective blanket of air, the atmosphere of the earth, providing the medium for our breath. The rhythms and shadings of the earth were her inspiration. In summer, 2005, cicada calls to mate were exceptionally strong, with 20-30 second waves of overlapping sound energizing Carolina and Georgia nights and into the days. Their energy propels the first movement, Call of the Cicadas.