Bajzer's work is part of a series inspired by America's National Parks. 'There's really been this fascinating history of art and music and nature in the national parks,' Bajzer says, 'and so I hatched this idea of writing this kind of large sort of symphonic suite or series of pieces that are inspired by the national parks.'
For his new work for the Reno Phil, Bajzer travelled to Great Basin National Park, where he discovered the story of Prometheus, a 5,000-year-old bristlecone pine – 'the oldest known living tree in the world,' according to Bajzer – that was inadvertently cut down in the 1960s. Bajzer's music depicts a visitor camping in the park. 'And there's this voice in the wind that sort of beckons them into the forest, and they're kind of going through this dark forest, and they'll eventually enter this grove of the ancient bristlecone pines.' The voice beckons them to the stump of Prometheus.
Bajzer chose the bass oboe to represent the spirit of Prometheus. Along with the bass oboe and orchestra, recordings of the environment from Great Basin National Park are employed. 'There is a way to clip electrodes to a plant,' Bajzer continues. 'And as that plant is, you know, moving water and nutrients around and photosynthesizing … the degree to which it's a conductor of electricity is changing. Those changes can be mapped onto a wave and then turned into a sound wave.'
The performances of The Sacrifice of Prometheus are March 22 and 23 at the Pioneer Center for the Performing Arts in Reno.
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Support for 'Arts on the Airwaves' comes from The Nevada Arts Council… a state agency that provides public funding and support to artists and organizations, that benefit Nevadans in cities and rural communities statewide. More at NVArtsCouncil.org.
