"Lost It To Trying" from the album Lanterns, now available on ITunes: http://bit.ly/1hqLie6

Watch the official music video here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TkLT5krv_6c

Written, Performed & Recorded by Son Lux
Vocals - Lily & Madeleine (http://lilandmad.com)
Baritone Saxophones - Jack Bashkow, Steven Temme
Tenor, Alto Saxophones - Steven Temme
Flutes - Alex Sopp

Ryan Lott Music (ASCAP) administered by Domino Publishing Company USA (ASCAP)
© 2013 Joyful Noise Recordings + Son Lux / sonluxmusic.com

Lanterns

Lost It To Trying

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Son Lux - Lost It To Trying

This is a live performance with The President's Own Marine Band with Jason Fettig, conducting.

Program note:
My wife’s grandfather was an extraordinary man. He was an immigrant who walked around quoting poetry and whistling tunes from his childhood in Scotland. Like a character from a movie he always seemed to pull just the right verse for the occasion.

 
In the spring of 2007, he fell into a coma following a severe stroke. After weeks of being in this state he awoke and said: 

 
In mist or cloud…

 …on mast or shroud… 

…It perched for Vespers nine… 

…Whiles all the night… 

…through fog-smoke white, 

Glimmered the white moon-shine. 

 
These were the final words of a man who always chose the right words. Within the hour he was gone. 

 
Not recognizing the verse, I immediately ran to Google to decipher what message the old man could have been delivering.

 
The verse is from the famous poem of condemnation and redemption, “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”. The poem is the story of a mariner condemned to travel the earth telling his tale of hubris and punishment in search of redemption. The mariner shot an albatross for no other reason than he felt like it and then suffered the wrath of both death and living-death for his gall. 

 
The verse my wife’s grandfather quoted is the verse immediately before the one containing the ill-fated murder of the albatross. As they say, the calm before the coming storm. 

 
My work entitled, “It perched for Vespers nine,” on a surface level engages the imagery from the verse itself. But at the emotional core of the work is my trying to work out what my wife’s Pop Pop might have been trying to tell us about what awaits us “In mist or cloud”.

 
It perched for Vespers nine was commissioned by the American Bandmasters Association and the University of Florida. For performance materials or any additional questions please contact:

www.billholabmusic.com

Buy Studio Recording

It Perched For Vespers Nine (LIVE The President's Own Marine Band)

Aloft evokes the relentless pursuit of powered flight by the Wright Brothers at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, as well as the broader sense of persistence and elation during any creative act.

Aloft is meant to be truly accessible to a very wide range of musicians, conforming to the North Carolina Bandmasters Association MPA grade 2 guidelines, and thus playable by young and inexperienced musicians everywhere.

I am grateful to Danny Green, the Wachovia Winds Youth Wind Ensemble, and all the members of the consortium for creating this unique project for so many North Carolina composers. Special thanks to Philip Riggs for additional consultation on making the work’s technical demands accessible to young musicians.

Aloft (ECU reading session)

stevenbryant

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