Joaquín Rodrigo

A la busca del más allá

Subtitle	for orchestra
Publisher	Ediciones Joaquín Rodrigo
Instrumentation	pic.2.2.ca.2.2-4.3.3.1-2perc(triangle, snare drum, tam-tam, xylophone-hp.cel-str
Duration	15'
Premiere	March 27, 1978 Houston, TX, Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts (USA) · Conductor: Antoni Ros-Marbà
Commission	Commissioned by the Houston Symphony on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence
Composer note	‘In search of the beyond’ is the English title of Joaquín Rodrigo’s symphonic poem composed in 1977. During a trip to the USA, Rodrigo visited the headquarters of the US space agency NASA in Texas. When he was subsequently commissioned by the Houston Symphony Orchestra for the US bicentenary, he decided to write a piece about the human exploration of space. The work begins and ends with a long roll on suspended cymbals; it emerges from nowhere and disappears, comments Rodrigo, ‘as if lost somewhere in space – in the other world’.