Product Description
Sonata for Tuba and Piano (2007) was commissioned by and is dedicated to tubist Mark
Nelson for premiere at the 2007 Southwest Tuba and Euphonium Conference. The work is
in three movements, each using the same basic musical material. Throughout the work,
there is an integration of the total chromatic spectrum (represented through row-like
constructions) with triadic and tonal elements, particularly connected to the interval of a
minor third.
The first movement, Speaking of Sunsets, is bold and dramatic throughout. The musical
material is subjected to a series of circular paths that loop back on themselves until the
movement ends. (The title refers to American poet James Tates poem Never Again the
Same and also Charles Wuorinens musical setting of that text.)
The second movement, Build Me a Garden, takes its title from an original song I overheard
while planning this work. It sung by a homeless man who was then sitting on the banks of
the Charles River in Boston, Massachusetts. His song (bearing both textual and musical
resemblance to various folk songs and African-American spirituals) spoke of hopes and
dreams:
Build me a garden, far cross the sea
Build me a garden, a place I can be
The water is wide, the journey is long.
Ive put all my sorrows into this song.
The movement opens with a slightly modified version of the song, which is developed over
the course of the movement. Connections are made between the first movements material
and the pentatonic melody (with its opening intervals of minor thirds).
The third movement, Rising at Dawn, is a moto perpetuo. The ideas from both previous
movements are put together in new, dancing combinations. Coming out of the darker first
two movements, this movement continually seeks places of joy. The dance breaks down,
and a recollection of the first movement leads to a bright coda.
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