Orion's Cradle Nebula (score & parts) - WW5

From the composer:

The Orion Cradle Nebula is a stellar nursery in Orion that lies at the edge of a giant molecular cloud some 1,500 light-years away. 

The wind quintet was begun a couple of years ago when I became interested in the idea of cosmic dust, the primordial source of everything. In the piece the dust dances in the sky before coalescing to form blocks of sound, some with intense movement, and others almost static. Over the period of time during which I worked on the piece on-and-off, sometimes composing other works, sometimes doing nothing, it gradually came together. It wasn't until September 2006 that I began to work seriously at the piece; form that time the work seemed to grow organically. 

The quintet still had no title (it's always quite difficult to work without some idea of a title although I had a sense of outer space), indeed, it did not have one until January 2007 when a chance seeing of Orion's Cradle Nebula made a deep, imaginative impression upon me. It is a place in the universe where stars are born from cosmic dust and collapsing dense gaseous clouds. From this volatile matter new stars are born.