Ceres

“Turnage chose to focus on the asteroid’s massive destructive potential in the event of a possible collision with Earth. His music wisely refrains from scene-painting the apocalypse, but this six-minute work still succeeds in conjuring a mounting sense of anarchy by pitting large swaths of music against each other. Themes appear to stack up in one moment, and slice across each other the next. In the final coda, Turnage has the cellos playing beneath their bridges, creating a ghastly spectral sound, like an icy wind heard from outer space… A fascinating and decidedly dark curtain-raiser.”
Boston Globe