Featuring the UWEC Wind Symphony (John Stewart, conductor) and Jerry Young (tuba soloist).

Three Visions of El Greco (concerto for tuba and wind ensemble)

Three Visions of El Greco for tuba and wind ensemble draws upon three paintings for its inspiration: “View of Toledo,” The Adoration of the Shepherds,” and “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz.” The first movement, “View of Toledo,” is loosely based on a variation of a ‘bulería’ flamenco rhythm—a 12/8 rhythm that emphasizes eighth notes 3, 7, 8 and 11. While the bulería instigates the initial momentum of the movement, a robust and lively dance ensues. Pairing this music with the painting, one envisions a ghastly aura casting a pall over this medieval city, concealing a raucous celebration.

Premiered at the University of Texas-San Antonio and the International Tuba Euphonium Conference at Indiana University. Spring 2014.

Three Visions of El Greco: View of Toledo

These Times/Alleluia (rough demo)

Three Visions Of El Greco - II. The Adoration Of The Shepherds - Ethan Wickman

Three Visions Of El Greco - III. The Burial Of The Count Of Orgaz - Ethan Wickman

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.

Three Visions of El Greco: View of Toledo

Ethan Wickman

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