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Voices is featured on the CD, “Voices”.

Voices was completed in October 1975 and the premiere performance was given by the Corning (NY) Philharmonic Orchestra. The work was created as a vehicle for the exotic sounds made by an array of percussion instruments – primarily metallic instruments such as bells and gongs – collected from various parts of the world. The sounds of these percussion instruments, complex and otherworldly, provided the material for the conceptual exploration that affected the composition of the piece. The instruments are mostly of non-western origin and therefore they make sounds that are not usually associated with symphony orchestras. They possess a broad spectrum of timbres, and their fundamental pitches tend to fall between the pitches of the normal 12-tone, evenly-tempered musical scale of most western art music. Depending on how they are struck, many of the instruments – especially the gongs – produce very complex harmonic structures which can be distinguished by an attentive listener. The ability of the performers in NEXUS to produce these sounds in a complete improvisatory manner is a true reflection of their knowledge and understanding of the instruments and their well-developed intuitive musical sensibilities.