Michael Tippett's suite from his opera, New Year, was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony in honor of Herbert Blomstedt and was made possible by the generosity of Mrs. Paul L. Wattis. It was first performed by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, under Muhai Tang, at the Flint Center in San Francisco on January 10, 1990.

The composer conceived the suite while he was at work on the opera. His aim was to create an independent piece that would work in the concert hall without reference to the opera from which it is derived. The result is a continuous work of about 25 minutes that extracts 13 episodes from the drama, mostly from the second act, and incorporates some added connective material. Also, Tippett transcribed a few voice parts for instruments in the large orchestra that includes three flutes (doubling three piccolos), two oboes, English horn, two clarinets, bass clarinet, three saxophones (alto, tenor, baritone doubling soprano), two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, a huge array of percussion requiring five players and including a whip and drum kit, harp, two electric guitars (lead and bass), and strings. Taped effects depict a spaceship and distant voices. The sections of New Year Tippett selected focus on the opera's two main characters, Jo Ann and Donny.

The suite opens with taped music for the landing of the "Space Ship"—a sustained diminished chord that increases in dynamic but slides down in pitch to simulate the Doppler effect. What follows is the "Prelude" to Act II, which introduces the New Year rituals. With shifting meters, the primary material of the "Prelude" moves from woodwind to brass and then strings before informing the entire orchestra. The ensuing "Shaman Dance" is for a much smaller ensemble and juxtaposes the saxophones and electric guitars while claves tap out the rhythm. "The Hunt for the Scapegoat" returns to the large, "traditional" orchestral forces.

Donny is represented in the next two numbers, "Donny's Skarade" (Act I) and "Donny's Dream" (Act III). The "Skarade" is without strings as the piccolos scream out a rapid figure while trumpets and electric guitar present a theme heterophonically and in triplet rhythm. The "Dream" begins with a rapid trill and scales in the strings that return in rondo-like fashion. A brief "Dream Interlude" marks the midpoint of the suite and includes taped voices singing falling intervals that fade to silence.

"Jo Ann's Dreamsong" (Act I) opens with a conversation between the strings and vibraphone and becomes more dense and intense until Jo Ann's "Love Scene" with Pelegrin, which features a passage for three saxophones alone and the return of the string theme from "Donny's Dream." The sarabande-like "Paradise Dance" (Act III) follows, introducing the fast and imitative "Beating out of the Scapegoat." "Ringing in the New Year" incorporates "Auld Lang Syne" in the trombone and tuba and eventually dies away. The taped "Space Ship" sounds, now more dissonant and rising in pitch, close the piece.

© All Music Guide