Ukrainian Composer Victoria Polevá's Symphony No. 4 "The Bell" — Dallas Symphony Orchestra and Cellist Inbal Segev

All donations to this recording will support Direct Relief’s mission to deliver medical supplies to Ukraine

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) has recently released a recording of their November 2023 performance of Ukrainian composer Victoria Polevá's Symphony No. 4, "The Bell."

Co-commissioned by the DSO, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the American Composers Orchestra, the work reflects on the brutality of the war in Ukraine and Polevá's sense of displacement from her homeland.

Scored for solo cello and orchestra, the work takes its use of the bells from the Latin word bellum, meaning "war," and employs the specific timbre of this instrument to evoke a bell announcing war, a funeral bell, and a victory bell.

While the recording is free to view, the DSO hopes that able listeners will donate to the charity Direct Relief, which is supporting several humanitarian efforts in Ukraine — including the supply of lifesaving medical assistance. You can make a donation to medical support in Ukraine, here.

"The most important thing I wanted was to reflect what happens in space after the most powerful bell chime," Polevá said. "This is the phenomenon of the subtlest echo, an angelic choir that sounds either in the air or in the subconscious when the bell sound ends."

"The sound space that I wanted to recreate was the area of operation of Bat-Kol (Hebrew Bath-Kol, which literally means 'daughter of the voice'). Some argue that the bat-kol is an echo, others that it is a hum echoing in the air from the movement of the universe. Bat-kol absorbs human voices and all other sounds of the world, even those that our ears are not able to hear."

"This most tender sound carries meanings that everyone needs in the most difficult times. The only thing a person can do is trust them. The symphony is dedicated to musicologist and LPO Artistic Director Elena Dubinets, thanks to whom I felt real creative support over the last terrible year."