Pulse
About this Piece
Brian Raphael Nabors (b. 1991) is a composer of emotionally enriching music that tells exciting narratives with its vibrant themes and colorful harmonic language. It has been performed by the Cincinnati, Atlanta, Nashville, and Detroit Symphony orchestras. Nabors was a 2020 Fulbright scholarship recipient, studying with composer Carl Vine at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.
My conception of Pulse began as a long contemplation of daily life as we know it, combined with thoughts of life in nature. The universe seems to have this natural rhythm to it. It is as if every living and moving thing we are aware and unaware of is being held together by a mysterious, resolute force. Pulse is an episodic rhapsody that explores several phases and colorful variants of rhythm all held together by an unwavering pulse. Each episode is meant to symbolize a different scenario of life for the listener, be it a buzzing modern metropolis, a deep wilderness abundant with animalia, or the scenic endless abyss of the ocean. All of these worlds and their philosophical meanings are then brought together in a contemplative theme of “unification” in the strings that symbolizes our deep connection as living beings to everything within, over, under, and around us. —Brian Raphael Nabors