Deception by Ben Goldberg

Deception was composed in 2012. It was awarded first place in the 2013 Susanville Symphony Composition Competition, American Composer Category. The Symphony premiered the work at their Modern Composer concerts on April 19, and 21, 2013 with the composer conducting.

This recording is from a live performance by the UC Davis Symphony Orchestra at the Music and Words festival on January 31,2015.

Some of the thematic material in Deception began as underscore for a film. The opportunity to expand on these ideas sparked the inspiration to create the piece. Deception is a musical interpretation of the emotional progression felt when deceived: confusion, shock, anger, and disbelief. The composition begins with a motif of intense slow glissandi, exploiting the microtones between the notes. Tone clusters shifting in dynamics, register, and timbre provide the harmonic background. Immediately following is an expressive theme stated by the Cellos. These melodic fragments become the foundation of the work. As the themes are developed, new motifs are presented in a series of dynamic and rhythmic peaks and valleys. The ultimate climax is reached with a culmination of the main thematic ideas heard simultaneously in a rhythmic frenzy. In the conclusion, the oboe now performs the expressive theme, while the intense glissandi become a whisper when stated by the violins as harmonics.