Into the Page of Night (1998)

Into the Page of Night derives its title from a fragment of a poem by the Ukrainian writer Arkadii Dragomoshchenko (b.1946).

There are days when the sky is open.
From daybreak a foggy disc touches the ground.
But in the heights, in feathers tinted gold,
With difficulty you can make out a star's
distant, incomplete appearance
Defined in unlit empty space
Still nothing but a point
Not yet sunk into the page of night.

The work was commissioned by Bramwell Tovey and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra for the 1999 Du Maurier Arts Ltd. New Music Festival. Financial assistance for the commission was provided by the Manitoba Arts Council. The world premiere was given on February 6, 1999, at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg; Rosemary Thompson conducted the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.

"The best music came early on, in the world premiers of Glenn Buhr's Symphony No 1 (de Joie) and Michael Matthews' Into the Page of Night.

Michael Matthews' piece was as urban as Buhr's was other-worldly. Tougher and more concentrated, the Matthews was a symphonic coiled spring, its argument sure handed, its resolution satisfying."

James Manishen — Winnipeg Free Press, February 9, 1999. [View entire article.]