“Sonic Force”

Although plenty of songs have used canned helicopter to propel their prefaces (we’re looking at you, Aldo Nova), few, if any, have actually incorporated the monster sonics of a fully operational U.S. Air Force attack plane. Using digital equipment, “Sonic Force” co-composer Dwight Frizzell captured the full range of motion of two A-10 Warthog crafts, from their cacophonous takeoffs to their turbulent flights to their subtle shutdown sounds. Orchestrator Michael Henry then wrote a score, using traditional instruments (flute, piccolo, trumpet, trombone and other assorted brass and woodwinds) to echo the flaring motors and snorting exhaust. The NewEar Contemporary Chamber Ensemble plays the piece with stunt-pilot daring, blurring the lines between music and machine.