Song of the Phoenix, for solo violin

Song of the Phoenix(1992) is about the legendary bird said to have built himself a funeral pyre and to have died upon it, only to rise again out of the ashes. The piece begins with rhapsodic "bird music" that imitates the careening flight of birds as well as their trills and calls, giving way to a virtuosic middle section representing the phoenix's frenzied flight. The piece concludes with a brief return to the idyllic soaring bird music of the opening.

Song of the Phoenix

Song of the Phoenix (download full length MP3)

Performers
Heidi Braun, violin

* Recorded May 9, 1995 at Marsh Chapel, Boston University