The ''Icarian Rhapsody'' is a single-movement composition for

string orchestra A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first a ...

by the American composer

Mason Bates Mason Wesley Bates (born January 23, 1977) is a Grammy Award, Grammy award-winning United States, American composer of Orchestra, symphonic music and Disc jockey, DJ of electronic dance music. He is the first composer-in-residence of the John F. ...

. It was composed in 1999 and was first performed November 14, 2003 by the Oakland East Bay Symphony under conductor Michael Morgan. Bates, Mason (1999)
Icarian Rhapsody: Program Note
. Retrieved July 21, 2015.

Composition

The ''Icarian Rhapsody'' has a duration of roughly 12 minutes and is composed in one continuous

movement Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...

. The title of the work is inspired by the character

Icarus In Greek mythology, Icarus (; , ) was the son of the master craftsman Daedalus, the architect of the labyrinth of Crete. After Theseus, king of Athens and enemy of King Minos, escaped from the labyrinth, Minos suspected that Icarus and Daedalu ...

from

Greek mythology Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the Ancient Greece, ancient Greeks, and a genre of ancient Greek folklore, today absorbed alongside Roman mythology into the broader designation of classical mythology. These stories conc ...

. Bates wrote about this inspiration in the score program notes:

Reception

Reviewing the world premiere, Joshua Kosman of the ''

San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...

'' described the ''Icarian Rhapsody'' as "an appealingly crafted work for strings" and called it "lovely to hear and ingeniously constructed, even if the actual thematic material seemed a little thin." In 2013, Charles T. Downey of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'' also described the piece favorably, saying, "sonic and rhythmic effects were piled up by minimalistic repetition until the voyage finally dissolved in a few wispy contrails of harmonics." Aaron Keebaugh of the ''Boston Classical Review'' similarly called it "a kaleidoscope of effects" and wrote:

References

{{italic title Compositions by Mason Bates 1999 compositions Compositions for string orchestra Rhapsodies