Instrumentation: 2 (picc) 2 2 2 - 4 2 3 1 - timp, perc - hp - str
Duration: 5 mins
Premiere: Available
Workshopped by the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra for the 2026-27 ACS.
Perusal Score Below
The air transforms just before rain arrives.
Suspended in the heaviness of waiting, the world seems to hold its breath. The scent just before rain begins to fall.
Petrichor takes its name from the word coined in 1964 by Australian scientists at the CSIRO, Isabel Joy Bear and Richard Thomas, for the distinctive scent as rain approaches and begins to fall.
The work begins suspended in time, with dense air, tension, anticipation and our presence. Non vibrato strings create a world that is alive, slowly circular, and brooding, close yet vast and expectant, from close up, reaching to the horizon beyond us.
From within this stillness, delicate textures begin to emerge. Circular bowing traces quiet motion through the orchestra. Vast drops appear, isolated and spacious. Shimmering, feathery and pointillistic gestures move through the ensemble, like the first cool touch of rain on skin.
As these first drops fall, there is relief. A cool breeze passes through, weaving and shimmering between players. The orchestra becomes filled with the touch of rain, with a windswept canopy, intricate and alive, finding momentum and movement.
Then comes the deluge.
The music opens into release, nuanced yet emboldened, drenched with abandon. The earlier tension gives way to something freer, fuller and more expansive. There is relief in letting go, and following where the rain leads.
And then, clarity. The air is changed. Hearts are opened. A different kind of space remains.
—Leah Curtis 2026
More about petrichor at the BBC: