Ann Millikan, who studied music at SJ State University, has composed and recorded in several genres: orchestral, opera, choral and instrumental. This work, which honors her brother Robert’s memory, draws on themes they had written in their youth. Robert, who died of cancer at age 55, played the violin, loved rowing, and pursued a career in cancer research and veterinary medicine. The 1st mvmt opens quietly, then becomes restless and often threatening, conveying a battle between cancerous and non-cancerous cells, with percussion adding military violence while strings, winds, and brass increasingly argue in separate, brief phrases rather than playing symphonically. The 2nd mvmt is lyrical, depicting a sylvan scene, and includes a non-obvious Irish tune symbolizing Robert’s time in Ireland as a Fulbright scholar, along with a non-obvious quote from Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, referencing Robert’s violin playing. The mvmt’s last minutes are darker, with mourning from a solo cello.
The 3rd mvmt, which opens with a verbal countdown, portrays a rowing race, with the marimba and vibraphone ostinato (continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm) conveying the mvmt of water and the rowers’ strokes. Tension rises to a dramatic end of race climax. The final mvmt is concerto-like, featuring violinist Jennifer Curtis, who helped gather Robert’s musical notes and the violin scores he played. Romantic musical style is mixed early with the restlessness of the opening mvmt, symbolizing both the battle of cells and the battle of a man with cancer, along with the demanding nature of learning to play the violin well. The violin’s opening theme is wistful, reflective. The ruminative central section gives way to an exuberant dance (at 10:03), with the violin, in the end, celebrating in ecstatic virtuosity. [adapted from D. Clements: musicweb-international.com, with LK supplementation]

1. Millikan Symphony. 1. Science (12:48)
2. Animals (13:14)
3. Rowing (6:10)
4. Violin (14:41)