Let The Word Go Forth

These Times/Alleluia (rough demo)

The forest glows
with silver moon
From each branch
soft voices whisper
beneath the leaves
Oh my love…

The pool reflects
like a deep mirror
the silhouette
of a black willow
where the wind weeps
Let us dream! It is time…

A boundless and tender calm
seems to descend
from the starry heavens
The moment is exquisite!

L'Heure Exquise

Wanderlust (2009) [orchestra]: Mvt 1. Prevailing Winds

This is a new recording by the newEar ensemble (Kansas City) of a 1992 work originally written for and premiered by the SUNY Stony Brook Contemporary Chamber Players.  The toccatas in the work are characterized by rapid sixteenth-note motion and/or by rhapsodic solo passages.  The interludes are, in contrast, static in nature and tend to feature the ensemble working together to produce a slowly changing texture.  The total effect is rather like racing at breakneck speed from one kaleidoscope to another, to another, etc.  

Toccatas & Interludes (recording by newEar)

Jean-Claude Vannier
L'Enfant Assassin Des Mouches
FKR001LPX

Jean-Claude Vannier - L'Enfant La Mouche Et Les Allumettes

From our jams on 2.9.16. Christian Asplund, viola, alligator clips; yours truly, laptop hoo hah.

RICKSPLUND Cedar Jam 3 (Alligator Clip Art)

Three Images  was commissioned by the Kenari and Barkada saxophone quartets for a combined performance given on March 12, 2016 in Lubbock, TX at the 2016 North American Saxophone Alliance National Conference in Hemmle Recital Hall.


The Golden Hour

This piece, from Carter Pann's "The Piano's 12 Sides," is a beautiful, lyrical, and plaintive Appalachian Waltz.  Recorded by pianist Nicholas Phillips on his CD "Impressions" (Blue Griffin, 2016).
www.nicholasphillips.net

Impressions

"She Steals Me" by Carter Pann

Anne Carson’s beautiful translation of the surviving fragments of Stesichorus’s tale of Geryon, the red monster of Greek mythology, served as the inspiration for ‘Geryoneïs’ (The Song of Geryon). Red Meat (Carson’s title) tells from the monster’s perspective the story of Hercules killing Geryon and his dog and stealing Geryon’s prized herd of red cattle. This Geryon, however, is a pitiable monster and one in appearance only. He is the innocent victim of Hercules’s murderous rampage — the hero and the monster having switched roles.

Geryoneïs was conceived as 16 musical fragments — matching Carson’s 16 fragments of verse — interwoven into a dynamic tapestry of different-each-time textures and harmonies. As with much of my music, I’m especially interested here in overlapping layers that may or may not complement one another, which are well-suited for evoking the kind of jagged non-linearity I associate with the memories of traumatic experiences. Specifically, the competing themes at play are otherness and family, tragedy and heroism, violence and pastoral peace, heaven and hell.

Geryoneïs was commissioned by Akropolis Reed Quintet and premiered on October 20, 2017 at a Babcock Season concert at Sweet Briar College. This was recorded live at that time.

Geryoneïs (The Song of Geryon) (reed quintet)

Recorded live at 2015 Underwood New Music Readings by the American Composers Orchestra (www.americancomposers.org).

This is an excerpt of "Rocketship," the second movement of "Two Variations on Ascent into the Empyrean" for full orchestra.

Two Variations On Ascent Into The Empyrean - Rocketship - 3 Min Excerpt

The second movement of my choral-orchestral work, "Let the Word Go Forth."  This movement employs text from a variety of sources, including President Kennedy's speeches on the importance of space travel.  

Let the Word Go Forth mvmt. 2, "To the Moon"

The first movement of "Let the Word Go Forth," a choral/orchestral work commissioned by Music Celebrations International in remembrance of President John F. Kennedy, marking 50 years since his assassination. This recording comes from the National Presidents Day Choral Festival, conducted by Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, held at the Kennedy Center, February 3, 2013. 

I. Inauguration

We observe today a celebration of freedom, signifying renewal, as well as change. For I have sworn before you and Almighty God the same solemn oath that our forebears prescribed.

The world is very different now. For man holds in his hands the power to abolish poverty and all forms of human life. And yet the same beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue around the globe--the belief that the rights of man com from the hand of God.

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to ensure the survival of liberty.

Let the word go forth from this time and place, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.

Let both sides explore what problems unite us. Let both sides seek to invoke the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Let both sides unite to let the oppressed go free.

The trumpet summons us again. Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. Ask what we can do for the freedom of man.  (From JFK Inaugural Address, January 20, 1961)

Let the Word Go Forth, Mvmt. 1: Inauguration

The fourth movement of "Let the Word Go Forth," a choral/orchestral work commissioned by Music Celebrations International in remembrance of President John F. Kennedy, marking 50 years since his assassination. This recording comes from the National Presidents Day Choral Festival, conducted by Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, held at the Kennedy Center, February 3, 2013.

"I am proud to come to this city as a guest of your distinguished Mayor, who has symbolized around the world the fighting spirit of West Berlin.

Two thousand years ago the greatest boast was 'civis Romanus sum.' Today, 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'

There are many people in the world who really don’t understand. Let them come to Berlin. There are some that say that Communism is the way of the future. Let them come to Berlin. There are some who say in Europe and elsewhere we can work with the communists. Let them come to Berlin.

So let me ask you to lift your eyes beyond the dangers of today, beyond the wall to the day of peace, with justice, beyond yourselves, and ourselves to all mankind.

Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free.

All free men, wherever they live, are citizens of Berlin, and therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words 'Ich bin ein Berliner.'" 

-JFK Address in West Berlin, June 26, 1963

Let the Word Go Forth, Mvmt. 4: "Berlin"

The third movement of "Let the Word Go Forth," a choral/orchestral work commissioned by Music Celebrations International in remembrance of President John F. Kennedy, marking 50 years since his assassination. This recording comes from the National Presidents Day Choral Festival, conducted by Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, held at the Kennedy Center, February 3, 2013.

I hope that every American, regardless of where he lives, will stop and examine his conscience about this. (JFK Civil Rights Address, June 11,
1963)

When saw we thee a stranger? When saw we thee an hungered? Naked or clothed thee; sick or in prison; or thirsty gave thee drink? Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least, ye have done it unto me. (from Matt. 25: 37-40 KJV)

One hundred years of delay have passed since Lincoln freed the slaves. Yet their heirs are not yet free from the bonds of injustice; and this nation shall not be free until all its citizens are free. We face a moral crisis, we face a moral issue as old as the scriptures and clear as the constitution.

It is time to act in the congress, it is time to act in your state, it is time to act in your homes and in your daily lives. This is one country. (JFK Civil
Rights Address)

Let the Word Go Forth mvmt. 3: "Crisis of Conscience"

The fifth movement of "Let the Word Go Forth," a choral/orchestral work commissioned by Music Celebrations International in remembrance of President John F. Kennedy, marking 50 years since his assassination. This recording comes from the National Presidents Day Choral Festival, conducted by Dr. Gary Schwartzhoff, held at the Kennedy Center, February 3, 2013.

When he shall die,
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night,
And pay no worship to the garish sun. (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 3, Scene 2)

Reference quoted by Robert F. Kennedy, at the Democratic National Convention, 1964

Let the Word Go Forth, Mvmt. 1: Inauguration

Ethan Wickman

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