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From the Morning Watch for Orchestra [10 minutes]
MIDI demo recording.
Instrumentation: 3 Flutes, Oboe, English Horn, 2 Clarinets, Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 3 Trumpets, 2 Trombones, Bass Trombone, Tuba, Timpani, Orchestral Bells, Vibraphone, Percussion, Harp, & Strings.
Year Composed: 2005
Program Notes:
The twilight before sunrise is a time of subdued light, warm colors, and the promise of daylight ahead. From the Morning Watch evokes the dream-like period of uncertainty at the point where the vast night is about to end and the new day is about to be reborn. The title, From the Morning Watch, is a fragment taken from the sacred text, De Profundis, about rising from the depths of darkness and being redeemed into a new light. This piece is an ethereal and ponderous journey into enlightenment that explores this vague and ambient period.
The piece begins with a heavy and yearning statement by the low strings while light and shimmering figures are sprinkled about the thick chords. A searching melody is explored in the woodwinds and a glimmer of light shines through with a more jubilant harmony. The oboe then sings out a melody as the strings pulsate underneath adding new motion to the stillness that preceded it. The tone becomes calm and content as the dissonance begins to dissipate. The opening melody has now become lighter and quicker while the strings dance and spin around beneath the transformed motives. The cellos and horns then bring us back to the darker shadings of the piece but the brass maintain a new found strength and wisdom within the developed theme. The orchestra builds to a climax but quickly regroups for one final intense push to a grand climax. Having traveled an intense path, the piece settles into a serene and placated harmony that pulses along while light motives twinkle above it. Earlier melodies are restated in varying lengths while extended versions surge in and out of the texture. The violins then take this broad line and crescendo for one final sweeping and impassioned gesture before finally relenting and calmly fading away.