Symphony No. 1, "Prairie Nightscape", IV. Morning
Tim Hinck
(b. July 8, 1980 in Jellico, Tennessee)
The Local Maximalist
Tim Hinck is a composer of Brazilian and Japanese heritage whose work defies easy categorization. In his own bio, he adopts the label "maximalist"—an artist who dives deep into past musical styles, often simultaneously, to create something "both familiar to audiences' ears and completely new." A Chattanooga favorite, former Fulbright scholar, and now a composer with a burgeoning international reputation, Hinck writes music that seeks to bring clarity to the tumultuous human experience, whether performed in an abandoned warehouse or a concert hall.
A Commission from the Crowd
The journey to this symphony began with a passionate music aficionado who had heard Hinck’s Fanfare for Rosa (CSO world premiere in 2018) and was moved to commission a larger work. Hinck took the commission seriously, immersing himself in the landscape of Wichita, Kansas, where the piece would premiere. He even democratized the creative process: the subtitle "Prairie Nightscape" was the winner of an audience poll that garnered over a hundred suggestions.
Joy in the Details
Hinck believes that writing down music is only notes on paper. Musicians who play the notes must "sell" the music to the audience. To that end, he engaged in extensive conversations with orchestral players during the composition process, asking what would make the music more enjoyable to play. If a violinist suggested that a section would feel more satisfying with double-stops, Hinck obliged. "It may make only a minor difference in the sound," he notes, "but the joy added for the player is priceless."
A Sunrise "Mashup"
Tonight’s selection, Morning, is the symphony's radiant finale. True to his maximalist ethos, Hinck uses about a dozen different musical styles within this single movement—Baroque, Bluegrass, Jazz, Broadway, and Bavaria—all swirling together to capture the chaotic beauty of a sunrise. The movement is unified by a recurring melodic shape: a rising fourth (sing two words to yourself—“O Come [all ye faithful]”—to hear a fourth) and a stepwise descent. The closing theme reuses the rising fourth, but quickly and forcefully with an extended descent, as Hinck describes it, to "capturing the sensation of flying." This is an explicit nod to the city of Wichita—the "Air Capital of the World" and home of the Cessna Aircraft Company—where his symphony premiered.
(c) 2018, 2026 by Steven Hollingsworth, Creative Commons Public Attribution 3.0 United States License.
Contact: steve@trecorde.net