Agita

for Symphony Orchestra (c.4′)
3(III=picc).3.3(III=bcl).3(III=dbn) – 4.3.3.1 – timp.perc (3) – harp – strings

Programme Note

The word ‘agita’ is thought to have arrived in New York via Italian immigrants around the turn of the century. Derived from possible sources in Italian such as ‘agitare’ (to ‘trouble’), or from the Latin ‘agitare’ meaning ‘to stir up’, it has clear connotations with restless and turbulent energy. There is also a darkness to it, that indicates being in an anxious and troubled state of mind.

This piece is a frenzied dance that drives forward with relentless energy for almost its entirety. Aside from one very brief moment of uneasy calm, the uneven rhythmic motif of the opening builds in intensity until all bubbles over into a slight loss of control, before dissolving into a more melancholic moment of reflection.

* World premiere performance given by the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christopher Rountree, as part of the Edward T. Cone Institute at Princeton University on Saturday 19th July 2025.