Divine Comedy by Sam Adams

This exciting three-piece work represents the three books contained in The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. The first movement is a dark, fast-paced dance through the levels of the Inferno as the protagonist begins his long journey, following his love into the afterlife to bring her back from death. After an increasingly intense and technically challenging ending to the movement, the second movement, Purgatorio, begins. This movement, a slow, brooding reimagining of the traditional Christmas song “I Wonder as I Wander,” builds tension as the protagonist makes his way through the drifting nothingness of Purgatory, waiting to be free and move on to rescue his love. The third and final movement, Paradiso, begins much like Inferno ends, with a very fast and dark dancelike opening. As the movement barrels toward the close, the tone is gradually shifted from one of tension and anxiety to a feeling of elation and victory as the protagonist realizes his goal of rescuing his lost love from the grips of death.