Symphony No. 2 “SHADES OF NOIR”

Symphony No. 2, “Shades of Noir” (World Premiere)

Peter Drew composer

Premiere July 10, 2025, Carnegie Hall, Fort Greene Orchestra, Ben Sellick Conducting

Peter Drew’s second symphony crashes the doors down with angular staccatos, furious brass fanfares, and the smoky melodies of film noir. As a film lecturer and devotee of noir composers Bernard Hermann, Max Steiner, and Miklós Rózsa, Drew explores his lifelong affair with the genre, from bone-chilling ostinati to languid atmospheres. “Shades of Noir” brings the drama and darkness of mid-century cinema to the modern orchestra, with more than a few surprises along the way.

Brute Force

The first movement storms in with a violent attack of strings and brass. Drew states his central theme three times: a stark, descending chromatic figure that will permeate every movement, evoking the motivic economy of Beethoven’s Fifth. Strange, slow, formal dances culminate in a chiaroscuro shootout in the trumpets and percussion. A church bell tolls, and the listener takes stock of the casualties.

False Dawn

A hushed sunrise of violin harmonics emerges with fragments of a melody from a solo violin. A tender, lilting love song unfolds, embracing the listener in melodic repetitions. The basses shatter this reverie with a violent recollection. The movement ends in anxious questioning as the church bell returns.

Jam Up

Abrupt interruptions stutter and cut out as this movement staggers to its feet in disjointed disarray. A demented cake-walk takes hold as the orchestra grows increasingly deranged. The manic energy devolves into chaos as the fatal opening theme reappears in a hornet’s swarm of strings and trumpets.

No Way Out

The final movement opens with an inversion of the opening theme: a rising chromatic figure in unison strings, casting uncertainty over how the story will end. Fragmentary melodies struggle to form as competing impulses of optimism, melancholy, and anxiety collide. A bizarre, mechanical wind-up doll of a fugue springs to life, then disperses into a penultimate silence. The church bell tolls a third time: a final signal. One last surge of hope climaxes in devastation as the chromatic opening theme returns to seal our fate.