Chamber Winds (2018)

Program Notes

Fanfare for Freedom
Morton Gould
Gould’s striking Fanfare for Freedom was premiered by the Cincinnati Symphony in 1943 and was part of the same series of World War II fanfares that produced Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man. The fanfares were commissioned by Eugene Goossens and most were dedicated to specific military units. Fanfare for Freedom builds from simple ideas and in general adheres to the conventional extrovert nature of a fanfare. Gould’s dense scoring provides strength for bold, melodic tunes.

Ronald Searle Suite

His Ronald Searle Suite “was composed for a documentary cartoon designed by the famous British animator, Ronald Searle. It was commissioned by Standard Oil of New Jersey in 1957. The cartoon, entitled ‘Energetically Yours’, chronicles the development of energy sources and was produced by Transfilm. The Suite was orchestrated by Murray’s friend and colleague, Frederick Steiner.” - Rodney Winther

Goodnight Moon

Over the first six years of his life, I must have read Goodnight Moon to my son a thousand times, maybe more. Somewhere around reading number 500 I began hearing little musical fragments as I read, and over time those fragments began to blossom into a simple, sweet lullaby. I knew it was a long shot, but I asked my manager, Claire Long, to contact HarperCollins and see if they would allow the text to be set to music. To my surprise and delight they agreed – the first time they had ever allowed Goodnight Moon to be used in such a way. I composed the piece relatively quickly, setting the text for harp, string orchestra, and my son’s mother, soprano Hila Plitmann. I later created a version for soprano and piano and finally, SATB choir and piano. - Eric Whitacre

A Spanish Silhouette

About a year ago I was sitting at the piano playing and singing melodies, one after the other, as they came into my head... somewhat akin to "zoning out" at the piano.  I stumbled upon one I really liked and wrote it down with a few supporting harmonies. I remember that it sounded either Brazilian or Spanish to me at the time. I could hear guitars and double-basses playing the tune... very sultry, very patient.

The opportunity to flesh out my melody came when Matt Roeder asked me to write a piece for the Southwest Regional CBDNA Conference in Las Cruces, NM after he found out he was invited to bring the band down.

The instrumentation scared and intrigued me! Could I really write a slow, silky tune for nothing but brass ensemble?  That was the challenge, I thought. It turned out that I needed a solo or a solo group to play lead in the piece, as if they were indeed singing this melody with an accompanying body (the brass).  After adding a contrabass and three percussionists, orchestrating the tune a bit and stepping back, it became apparent that I was heading into personally untrodden territory: a tango hybrid. I'm not Spanish in heritage, but I do love and have played the tangos of Piazzola and Nazareth quite a bit.  I even love Gershwin's "Cuban Overture."

There is a moment towards the end of my piece that caused the woman to whom it is dedicated to make the quip, "Wow... I like the Arabian Nights thing going on here!"  This is now a running joke with us. She 'gets' the piece, truly.

-Carter Pann