First of all, let me say this ...Ivan, the directors and the orchestra were very impressed with your arrangement and almost every one of them took the time to encourage me (us) to go ahead and work on this piece. I shared the whole story with them in the dressing room and they were so enthused by your amazing effort. After rehersal, we all had a great conversation about how it sounded when the strings kicked in...it was a moment I will never forget. Arlo and I looked at each other with huge grins and we both had tears in our eyes. I mentioned to Arlo that "firsts" get a little harder to come by when a person is 51 years old...the look on his face said it all...we both knew that your effort was extraordinary...EXTRAordinary!! The executive director said to me that you did a good job and they had all taken it very seriously. ..saying "..you never know...this song could be the next 'This Land...' " And she meant it. We all spoke of how the first time it was ever tried in public, it was onstage at Carnegie Hall with the Metropolitan Orchestra...no small deal. So please, understand that this is just the beginning and I would very much like for you and I to continue working on the arrangement...the symphony directors both suggested that we might very well do it another time...they thought you did a miraculous job considering you had only HOURS to work with...I think that too....let's keep working on this, ok?