full orchestra (2010; rev. 2023)

The title derives from the fact that much of the piece is in the Lydian mode (3 whole tones + semitone + 2 whole tones + semitone). And helio, a combining form meaning “sun,” refers to the tune’s sunny disposition, occasionally reflecting those coronal mass ejections near the sun’s surface that have the power of 20 million nuclear bombs. The timpanist has to wait 182 measures before playing his first note, a D flat, and good luck with that.