Anthracite Fields Mark Swed of the "Los Angeles Times" praised the composition as "an unforgettably haunting, harrowing evocation of the plight of Pennsylvania's coal miners, incorporating many musical styles and effectively shadowy visuals." Anthracite is a form of coal that can be used for domestic fuel. The name of this oratorio, "Anthracite Fields" is a tribute to those who “persevered and endured in the Pennsylvania Anthracite coal region.” The entire piece consists of five movements: "Anthracite Fields" runs approximately an hour and combines elements of folk and classical music. Its libretto contains various oral histories, speeches, interviews, advertisements, and other texts from
Anthracite The advertisements featured a white-clad woman named Phoebe Snow and poems containing lines like "My gown stays white / From morn till night / Upon the road of Anthracite". Similarly, the Great Western Railway in the UK was able to use its access to anthracite (it dominated the anthracite region) to earn a reputation for efficiency and cleanliness unmatched by other UK companies. Internal combustion motors driven by the so-called "mixed", "poor", "semi-water" or "Dowson gas" produced by the gasification of anthracite with air (and a small proportion of steam) were at one time the most economical method of obtaining