This Symphony, in four movements, is my most 'classical in structure and sound. Also, after the more coloristic effects and 'clouds of sound' found in my previous orchestral works, in this piece I was rediscovering old formal ideas, and perhaps laying more bare the primary motivic ideas and their development. The movements are marked Adagio con rubato-Andante, Allegro scherzo, Adagio, and Allegro.

The opening movement begins with a light and delicate introduction, which gives way to a middle section of increasing momentum, followed by a return to the atmospheric opening. The second movement is a true scherzo. There are refractions of Beethoven scherzos, but sometimes a beat is chopped off, creating a skipping effect. Also everything is in threes in the trio-section; the harmony is three-voiced, and the instrumentation is also in threesomes. The slow movement begins and ends with the sounds of bells tolling, and is elegiac in character, having been written shortly after the death of Stephen Albert, a teacher and then colleague. The slightly bumptious finale is a classical rondo with a recurring section of full orchestration, and contrasting sections of a more delicate nature.

This work was commissioned by the Phoenix Symphony with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.