Ice Field Explained

Ice Field is a musical composition by Henry Brant, for large orchestral groups and organ, commissioned by Other Minds for a December 2001 premiere by the San Francisco Symphony.^[1] It was awarded the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Music,^[2] and premiered on December 12 at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.^[3] A, "'spatial narrative,'" or, "spatial organ concerto,"^[4] and thus an example of Brant's use of spatialization, the work utilizes more than 100 players.^[5]

The piece was, "inspired by his experience, as a 12-year-old in 1926, of crossing the Atlantic by ship, which navigated carefully through a large field of icebergs in the North Atlantic."^[6]

Notes and References

1. Web site: Henry Brant: Ice Field. Other Minds. February 15, 2024.
2. Hill, Brad (2006). American Popular Music: Classical, p. 37. .
3. Anon., "Brant's Field Wins Pulitzer" (2002). Billboard Vol. 114, No. 16 (April 20), p. 13. ISSN 0006-2510.
4. (2008). Musicworks, no. 100, 101, or 102, p.41. The Music Gallery.
5. Gagné, Nicole V. (2011). Historical Dictionary of Modern and Contemporary Classical Music. .
6. [Allan Kozinn]