''Anthology of Fantastic Zoology'' is an

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l symphony by the American composer

Mason Bates Mason Wesley Bates (born January 23, 1977) is a Grammy award-winning American composer of symphonic music and DJ of electronic dance music. He is the first composer-in-residence of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and he has also bee ...

. The work was commissioned by the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenu ...

, for whom Bates was then

composer-in-residence Artist-in-residence, or artist residencies, encompass a wide spectrum of artistic programs which involve a collaboration between artists and hosting organisations, institutions, or communities. They are programs which provide artists with space a ...

. It was premiered June 18, 2015 at

Symphony Center Symphony Center is a music complex located at 220 South Michigan Avenue in the Loop area of Chicago, Illinois. Home to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Chicago Symphony Chorus; Civic Orchestra of Chicago; and the Institute for Learning, Access, and ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra performing under conductor

Riccardo Muti Riccardo Muti, (; born 28 July 1941) is an Italian conductor. He currently holds two music directorships, at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and at the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. Muti has previously held posts at the Maggio Musicale ...

, to whom the work is dedicated. The piece is based on the eponymous book by

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

. Bates, Mason (2015)
Anthology of Fantastic Zoology: Program Note
. Retrieved July 9, 2015.

Composition

Inspiration

The movements of the work are titled after mythical creatures from the book ''Anthology of Fantastic Zoology'' by

. Bates commented on this inspiration in the score program notes, writing:

Structure

The piece has a duration of roughly 30 minutes and is composed in eleven continuous

movements Movement may refer to: Common uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Motion, commonly referred to as movement Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * "Movement" (short story), a short story by Nancy Fu ...

: #Forest: Twilight #Sprite #Dusk #The A Bao A Qu #Nymphs #Night #The Gryphon #Midnight #Sirens #The Zaratan #Madrugada

Instrumentation

''Anthology of Fantastic Zoology'' is scored for an orchestra comprising three flutes (3rd doubling piccolo), three

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

s (3rd doubling English horn), three clarinets (2nd doubling E-flat clarinet and bass clarinet), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

s, three

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standard ...

s, two

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

s, bass trombone,

tuba The tuba (; ) is the lowest-pitched musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, the sound is produced by lip vibrationa buzzinto a mouthpiece. It first appeared in the mid-19th century, making it one of the ne ...

, three percussionists,

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally ...

, harp,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

/ celesta, and strings.

Reception

Reviewing the world premiere, Lawrence A. Johnson of the ''Chicago Classical Review'' praised the symphony, remarking, "Bates has crafted a kaleidoscopic half-hour work, choosing an array of Borges’ mythical creatures to paint in eleven interstiched sections." Johnson continued, "Dedicated to Muti, ''Zoology'' is the 37-year-old composer's largest and most ambitious orchestral work to date, scored for huge forces and massive percussion battery. John von Rhein of the ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television a ...

'' also lauded the piece, writing: Georgia Rowe of the ''

San Jose Mercury News ''The Mercury News'' (formerly ''San Jose Mercury News'', often locally known as ''The Merc'') is a morning daily newspaper published in San Jose, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It is published by the Bay Area News Group, a subsidia ...

'' called the piece "scintillating" and said, "It's a large, panoramic 30-minute score, one that surges with vitality and glistens with alluring orchestral color."

References

{{Authority control 4 2015 compositions 21st-century classical music Music commissioned by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra