Symphony No. 1 (Choral Score)

Score and parts available for rental. Click here for more information. “Wachner has a pronounced rhythmic sensibility and puts it to good use in movements that have shifting meters and a dynamic thrust to them. At some point you occasionally detect a Bernstein influence (the Mass sometimes comes to mind as a precursor), other times some of the voicings and counterpoints of later Reich also seem to be launching points, still other moments there is a jazziness to it all. But then there are the tender and mysterium aspects, too. None of it sounds derivative. It does seem an integral part of a developed grand tradition of sacred music, with Wachner taking his place in a potential pantheon.” -Gapplegate Classical-Modern Music Review“...Lamentations showed Belshazzar’s Feast squaring off against “Symphony of Psalms,” and proved a veritable bonanza of orchestrational, dramatic, choral invention, little of it predictable.” -The Boston Globe “…his comprehension of massive orchestration shine through in a vast spectrum of sound. Wachner's work, though based in the current ideas of mixing styles, tonality and rhythmic structures, is very much a style all his own.” -Edge Media Netword“Clearly, one of the musical inspirations behind the symphony was Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms, but Wachner’s work is far less cool and austere. It is powerfully, even violently, rhythmic over many pages....The Incantations movement for orchestra strives to cast spells with its mysterious, often static quality, and its hypnotic mottos for timpani, its oriental colors, its suggestion of a wild sacrificial dance. The Exile section is almost brutal in its depiction of God’s wrath. The Prayer and Remembrance movements offer some balm, albeit couched in odd, unstable harmonies.” -The Boston Globe