Just as the lightning and its flash are one and the same thing, and not two separate things, so, in conducting, the conductor's conception of the work and its materialization in the orchestra must flash forth simultaneously. (Hermann Scherchen, Handbook of Conducting)

Movement V of SYMPHONY is the premiere performance of Ari Benjamin Meyers' original score,The Lightning and its Flash (Solo for Conductor). As conductor, Meyers will perform his score before an audience seated like an orchestra. The score functions formally as a composition, employing musical nomenclature to describe with a minimum of information what is to be conducted. Yet the resultant work is silent, relying on the movements of the conductor rather than sound to convey the composer's "music". The Lightning and its Flash (Solo for Conductor)is, like any conventional music score, open to interpretation by the performer (who in this instance is also the conductor). The work demands that the audience step out of its typically passive role to perform, as each individual will create or "hear" his own score, directed by the conductor. Like "the lightning and its flash" described by Scherchen, the materialization and conception of the score is a single act shared by conductor, performer and audience.

-V/W press release

The Lightning and Its Flash (solo for conductor)
has been acquired by FRAC Ile-de-France for their permanent collection