Ship of State

This one-movement chamber concerto by Stephen Hartke for piano and twenty players uses four sections, each bearing headings from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem "The Building of the Ship." The poem is a culmination on the metaphorical comparison of the perils and tribulations of government to that of a ship at sea in a storm. It was commissioned by Xak Bjerken, the Oberlin Sinfonietta, the University of Southern California Thornton Edge Ensemble, Ensemble X, June in Buffalo, and the Arizona State University Chamber Orchestra. Section titles: 1. "Hanging breathless" (Foundering), 2. "In spite of false lights on the shore" (Edgy, potentially explosive), 3. "The anchors of thy hope" (Gently - a rueful lullaby), 4. "What Workmen wrought" (Lively, resurgent)