Lemonade battery
Composed in 2009
For orchestra (also arranged for concert band)
Duration: 7:30
Instrumentation: 1,afl(pic),1,Eh,2(bcl),2/2,2,0,0/timp/2pc/hp/str
Have you ever made a battery out of a lemon? It’s easy! Simply take a lemon and cut two slits in the skin about half an inch apart. Into one slit, place a penny; into the other, place a dime. Voila! Instant battery! Now, touch your tongue to both coins at the same time. If you’ve done your job, you should feel a slight tingle, and maybe a slight taste of metal. Have no fear—it’s just some electrons being conducted through your tongue!
I bet you’ve made lemonade at some point. They say, “When life hands you lemons, make lemonade.” In a sense that’s what I’ve done with this piece. Lemonade Battery started as an earlier work for twelve players. I was unhappy with the scoring of that version, so I decided to expand the playing forces to a chamber orchestra. I think this orchestration brings out the motoric rhythmic drive and the brightness of the instrumental colors to a much greater degree.
Plus, it’s louder.
You know, it’s possible to make a battery with lemonade. What’s the difference, you ask?
One is sweeter.
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First Performance: New Music New Haven, October 8th, 2009
Morse Recital Hall, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Members of the Philharmonia Orchestra of Yale; Farkhad Khudyev, conductor
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Lemonade Battery won the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Audience of the Future Competition, and was performed by the PSO in Heinz Hall on April 29th, 2011, with Thomas Hong conducting. It also won the Contra Costa Chamber Orchestra Call for Scores, and will be performed by that orchestra May 3rd, 4th, and 5th, 2018, with Chad Goodman conducting.
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Lemonade Battery was recorded by the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra, Mikel Toms, conducting, for the album "Orchestral Masters, Vol. 3," released by Ablaze Records.
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