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The Other Rainbow


Full Orchestra
String Orchestra
Wind Ensemble
Vocal
Chamber
Solo Instrumental

   The Other Rainbow was commissioned by the New York Youth Symphony in 2005, and it was premiered by the NYYS under the baton of Paul Haas on February 26, 2006

   The title is a personal reference to the blurring between dreaming and waking, also known as a hypnopompic trance. I was trying to wake my college roommate one morning and upon waking, he told me that he heard me say "the other rainbow" in a dream that he just had. The music begins with the violence and tension of the waking state. Through a series of gradually calming sections, the piece descends into an ethereal dream-like state, with undulating harmonics in the strings supporting solos in the winds and strings. The listener is then jarred awake, and after a moment of confusion, the violence of reality returns. Building until it cannot build any further, the piece ends in a glorious explosion of sound.

   The Other Rainbow was awarded 2nd prize in the 2006 USC Undergraduate Symposium. It was also a finalist in the 2006 ASCAP Morton Gould composition competition and was chosen by Joseph Schwantner to be performed in the 2010 Omaha Symphony New Music Symposium.

   Duration: ca. 9'

    Large Orchestra instrumentation:
  • 3 flutes (3rd doubles piccolo), 3 oboes, 3 Bb clarinets, 3 bassoons
  • 4 horns in F, 3 Bb trumpets, 3 trombones (3rd is bass), 1 tuba
  • Timpani, 2 Percussionists
  • Strings
    Small Orchestra instrumentation:
  • 2 flutes (2nd doubles piccolo), 2 oboes, 2 Bb clarinets, 2 bassoons
  • 2 horns in F, 2 Bb trumpets, 1 trombone, 1 tuba
  • Timpani, 2 Percussionists
  • Strings
Percussion required for both versions: Suspended Cymbal, Bass Drum, Tam-tam, Xylophone, Glockenspiel, Chimes, Vibraphone


Listen to the premiere by the New York Youth Symphony:




The Other Rainbow is published by the Theodore Presser Company. To purchase scores or rent parts, please head to their website.



Copyright © by Roger Zare Music, ASCAP. All Rights Reserved.