Frank Bunger (1979 - ) Reflections on an Empty Space

German-American composer and award-winning bass trombonist Frank Bunger is an active musician in the Bay Area's classical music scene. He is a member of the Oakland Symphony, and has performed with many other Bay Area groups, including: San Francisco Symphony, San Francisco Ballet, San Francisco Opera, California Symphony, Symphony Silicon Valley, Vallejo Symphony, Modesto Symphony, Santa Cruz Symphony, Santa Rosa Symphony, Berkeley Opera, and many more. As a composer, Frank has written works for groups ranging from solo trombone to full orchestra. He has performed as trombonist and conductor with San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra, which premiered several of his works. Frank holds a bachelor's degree in trombone performance from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.

Of Reflections on an Empty Space, composer Frank Bunger writes: "I was inspired to write this piece after a brief, but poignant visit to Death Valley. My experience there was a complicated one: I felt fear, awe, and exhilaration blended evenly together into one mellifluent sensation.

"Fear, because I sensed the unforgiving climate, and how quickly it could impair an unprepared soul. Awe, the mysterious mountains; silence draped heavily over the barren desert plain. Exhilaration, an exhausting climb high above the valley reveals cloud-capped mountains in their full majesty.

"The title is a double entendre; not only does it reflect my thoughts on the natural world of Death Valley without, but also the musings of my solitary trek within. Just as Death Valley is a vast, empty space, so I also felt an empty space inside as I wandered through the trackless desert.

"The work is organized into three broad sections, representing fear, awe, and exhilaration. The fear section begins the work. It is dissonant, relentless, and furious. The cross-rhythm motive in the violins represents the shimmering, hot desert air, seeming to need company, but having none other than a distant drone (bass, celli). Ultimately, this becomes overpowering, and the entrance of the brass and woodwinds on a d-minor chord represents submission into fear. The allegro section that follows represents unorganized, frantic terror. The allegro section ends with the terror bursting into an uncontrolled eruption, climaxing into the second d-minor chord."