Reel Rebellion

for string orchestra

This piece was commissioned by Chris Broyles for the Cardinal Chamber Orchestra and premiered at Oberlin’s Warner Concert Hall on February 2, 2025. Chris specifically asked for something “groovy.” My first instinct was to say, “you know I’m a Catholic church organist, right?” But I instead welcomed the challenge to try something a little different.

I wrote about 3 minutes of music without a clue where I was going. All this drafting led to four quirky chords which were, to me, the first promising idea in all the sketches I had produced. So with exactly one month until my deadline, I started over, this time with those 4 chords and their various transpositions and inversions as my North Star. This progression (first stated m. 18-21) contains many more parallel fifths than I typically allow myself, hence the word “Rebellion” in the title.

And what about “Reel”? This piece also serves as an homage to my composition instructor and favorite moonlighting folk musician, Jesse Jones. It engages his proclivity for 9/16 fiddle riffs, as well as a certain metric grid technique he taught me: I employ a 25-eighth note cycle divided simultaneously into both 6+6+6+7 and 5+5+5+5+5. “Reel Rebellion” sits beside my mixed septet “Rat Race” (also 2024) in both its playful focus on groove and the alphabet.

• Matthew Thomas Brown