Powerhouse (rhumba): perpetuum mobile for orchestra by Graeme Koehne will have its Swiss Premiere by St Gallen Symphony Orchestra.
Other performances of this work around the world include November 2023 in London by the Imperial College Symphony Orchestra; March 25 2024 in Texas by Moores School String Ensemble, and April 9 2022 in Colchester, United Kingdom by Essex Youth Orchestra.
The title, Powerhouse, was chosen in homage to Raymond Scott, the uniquely humorous and inventive composer whose music is featured in many Bugs Bunny soundtracks. Koehne speaks of aiming to capture the spirit of bright humour for which Scott provided a model.
''It's a very explosive mixture of Latin American rumba and North American minimal music, and it's also quite industrial. It's pleasing to the ear but there are sections where he gets into this layer of counterpoint. It's a level of complexity you don't expect from a piece based on Latin-American dance.''
John Mangan The Age October 11 2009
First performed in 1993 by the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Powerhouse is the middle work in a trilogy of orchestral works that begins with Unchained Melody and concludes with Elevator Music for Orchestra. The three works all play homage to Koehne’s formative musical influences: composers Raymond Scott, Henry Mancini, John Barry and Carl Stalling.
This trilogy is an overtly popular idiom of great appeal. The first in the trilogy, Unchained Melody has its title taken from a 1950s pop song composed by Alex North. This boisterous song-and-dance movement sometimes brings to mind the late Elmer Bernstein. Powerhouse is a brilliant scherzo in much the same vein. The final piece, Elevator Music, a sort of urban toccata is reminiscent of Leonard Bernstein (e.g. West Side Story) and other American composers such as John Adams or Michael Daugherty.
Other notable works by Koehne include:
To His Servant Bach, God Grants a Final Glimpse: The Morning Star
Forty Reasons to be Cheerful: festive fanfare for Orchestra
