Transmission Lines

Chamber Orchestra Spring 2026 2'15

Media

About

I spend a lot of time driving in North Dakota. There isn't much in terms of scenery, which leaves a lot of infrastructure exposed. Radio and TV antennas, cell phone towers, and of course, electrical transmission lines parallax across the prairie. Such large structures for such small signals. 

Transmission Lines is about these signals. Melody and accompaniment sometimes behave less like traditional musical material and more like coded pulses sent across the ensemble. At other moments, the fragments accumulate into something broader and more public-facing: less like a private signal and more like a full broadcast.

Built around a persistent (but not always uninterrupted) 3+3+2 rhythmic pulse, the work moves between delicate textures and forceful, driving gestures, circulating musical ideas across the ensemble.

Dedication

For Marvin Lamb, again

Instrumentation

Chamber Orchestra (1111.2000.strings)


Kyle Vanderburg