This work was commissioned by Brevard College to be performed during the opening year of the Paul Porter Center for Performing Arts. It was requested that the work in some way tie in with the focus at Brevard College upon the environmental issues that are addressed through The name of the basic environmental studies course at the College is "The Forest and the River," which acknowledges our proximity to the Davidson River and the Pisgah National Forest through which it flows--a virtual outdoor laboratory for environmental studies in the region.

This symphony is cast in three movements which are metaphorical as to mankind's relationship with the world in which we live: the world as it was before the intrusion of mankind into the beauty and sanctity of nature, the disruption of nature and the environment through man's often unwise and unfortunate tampering with it, and the hope for the future inherent in the rescue of the environment from man's folly through education and heightened awareness of the frailty of the environment if left to the ravages of man's carelessness and insensitivity. While there is no literal, direct correlation between each of the three movements and the three main ideas expressed here, one may discover at some level of understanding a relationship between idea and musical expression. (In no way whatever should this work be considered "program music" as the term is understood and manifest in the music of Berlioz and Liszt.)

In the first movement, "Prologue," there is the suggestion of the world at its beginning and as one might imagine it to have been before the onset of man and his intrusion into the environment: the beginning of the movement with a pedal-tone and the eventual presentation of a long, flowing, lyrical melody are musical devices intended to serve this purpose. The second movement, "Meditation," there is the suggestion of contemplative thought, but there is also the implication of fragmentation and disunion in the interspersing of a well-known hymn-tune, "Forest Green," with an entirely different melodic idea. This second movement also contains an element of whimsy in its treatment of another well-know hymn, "At the River." The third movement, "Celebration," is intended as an expression of praise and thanksgiving, an idea immediately apparent in the nature of the music. Furthermore, the resolution of the disunity of the second movement is expressed through the presentation of the melody first heard in the second movement without the interruption of a totally unrelated hymn-tune; the hope of a world to come as whole and pure as it was in the beginning may be inferred from the restatement of the long, flowing, lyrical melody first heard in the opening movement.