The title of Lukas Foss' Phorion is derived from the Greek for "stolen goods." The work is based entirely on music "stolen" from the Prelude of Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita for Violin in E major. Foss notes that the work was inspired by a dream of torrents of Baroque sixteenth notes being washed ashore by ocean waves and then being drawn back into the sea.
Rather than merely using quotations from or sly references to the Bach Prelude, Foss uses it as the essential basis for his own work, subjecting the original to an entirely new context through the application of aleatory (chance) procedures. Foss directs that specific groupings of instruments play the Bach Prelude continuously but soundlessly; at various intervals, the conductor summons different groups to audibility. Thus, the Bach piece unfolds continuously but with an ever-changing instrumentation according to the conductor's whims. One of challenges of rehearsing Phorion lies in working out the communication between players and conductor in starting and stopping the various groups while allowing the piece to continue in an uninterrupted flow. ~ Michael Morrison, Rovi
