Bizarro

Instrumentation: picc.2 fl.3 ob. Ebcl.cl.bcl.asax.3 bsn(III=cbsn) - 4 hn.4 tpt.3 trbn.euph.tuba - perc(4): 6 splash.cym/ride cym/3 SD/2 hi-hat/3 BD/xylo/glsp/crot - pno (elec or acoustic) - elec bass or stg bass

During the compostion of the Metropolis Symphony, I created a work inspired by another foe of Superman: Bizarro (created by Lex Luthor’s duplicating ray) is an imperfect copy of Superman, with spiky black hair and Frankenstein-like features. My nine-minute composition Bizarro is scored for woodwinds, large brass section, piano, electric bass, and a sizable percussion battery that includes three rock and roll drummers. Bizarro inhabits a musical world without strings, and revels in the brash energies of rock and big band jazz, propelled on his course by a fast tempo and rhythmic excitement. Melodic fragments coalesce, contrapuntally, into a swinging yet menacing little theme that is previewed by the flutes and piccolo, taken up by a solo trumpet, and finally peformed in a virtuoso canon for three trombones and four trumpets. Volume and intensity keep building as the monstrous Bizarro careens out of control.

Michael Daugherty