There are songs that beat and throb along the blood<\/em> (excerpt)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nProgram Notes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nFrom the Sky Far Whispers <\/em>was inspired by A.R.D. Fairburn\u2019s poem, The Runner<\/em>, from which the title and movement names are drawn. Published in 1929, the text extolls the sensual joys of running and the aural feast awaiting those who dare to sprint through untamed landscapes. The choice of this particular poem is a tribute to the concerto\u2019s dedicatee, Andrew Hudson, an avid runner and seeker of sonic delicacies. Spanning about 23 minutes, From the Sky Far Whispers <\/em>adopts the tripartite structure of the traditional concerto form, complete with a moderate-slow-fast tempo scheme.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe first movement, I have heard soft lutes sob their ecstasies<\/em>, begins with a solitary clarinet intoning a simple ascending melody, which subsequently grows, transforms and entangles itself within the gradually-awakening ensemble. This pastoral introduction soon gives way to a pointillistic and contrapuntal exploration of the initial melody, culminating with a \u201cfalse\u201d cadenza before returning to the pastoral sound-world and closing with the \u201creal\u201d cadenza.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe second movement, I have heard the ocean\u2019s song rise like a flame,<\/em> adopts the Baroque variation form known as the passacaglia, with the soloist switching to the bass clarinet. Traditionally, this form consists of a short repeated bass-line with ever-changing variations as the line repeats; but this particular passacaglia consists of 17 pitches that continually rise with each repetition, like the rising flame of the ocean\u2019s song. Over time, the notes in the repeated series begin to change in duration, tempo, range, and instrumentation until this ever-escalating series runs into itself, resulting in a kind of contrapuntal collision that leads into the final, climactic repetition.<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe final movement, There are songs that beat and throb along the blood<\/em>, is another tribute to Andrew Hudson – in this case, his love for pop-punk. Breaking from the pastoral and stately nature of the previous movements, the third movement features the bass clarinet and ensemble making sounds that are more at home in a basement rock show than a concert hall. This movement has the fastest speeds, the loudest chords, the gnarliest sounds, and a sub-4-minute run-time that sticks to the blink-and-you\u2019ll-miss-it nature of punk rock.<\/p>\n\n\nFrom-the-Sky-Far-Whispers-Full-Score<\/a>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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From the Sky Far Whispers for clarinet and wind ensemble 2021 for Andrew Hudson \/\/ premiered November 17, 2022; Greensboro, NC Duration: 22 minutes Instrumentation: 2.1.2.1 2.2.2.1 3 percussion Program Notes From the Sky Far Whispers was inspired by A.R.D. …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1007","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1038,"href":"https:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1007\/revisions\/1038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/piercegradone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}