Dan T. Cathy's Sonic Sandbox!

New Seasons

Program Notes By Steve Wiest

 

I was given the delightful task recently of writing a new piece of music for the Denver Brass that was informed by the Baroque era while making use of modern harmonies and composition techniques. How fun is that?! In considering the era in question, the great Anotonio Vivavldi came to mind along with his famous composition, The Four Seasons. Wanting to restrict myself to seven minutes or less, a series of four concerti were out of the question. Therefore, I decided to write four short movements informed by Vivaldi in a programmatic manner; Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer. Four Seasons.

 

However, I created the music using harmonies more associated with Stravinsky, Copland and the modern jazz tradition. The result is fairly cinematic in nature and represents my programmatic take on “New Seasons.”

 

1. Leaf Peeping. (Autumn) While the act of seeking out and enjoying deciduous fall colors is called “leaf peeping” throughout the U.S., I first heard the term here in the front range area, and mostly associated with the wonderful gold aspen foliage. As the breeze catches the leaves of these beautiful trees, the aspens seem to be trembling. Therefore, the driving eighth notes and solo piccolo trumpet in this movement are the quivering golden leaves that we all love to peep at every year.

 

2. The Aspen Fireplace. (Winter) Anyone who knows me knows how much I love cold weather and everything about winter. One of my favorite times in the low temperature months is sitting in front of a roaring fireplace. In this movement, I imagine that we are in Aspen on a seriously frigid and wintry night gazing into the light of the burning logs and feeling quite cozy indeed. There are two main themes at play here: the flugelhorns represent the flames themselves as they dance across the logs, while the horns and low brass theme reflects the hypnotic effect that the murmuring coals have on anyone who stares at them long enough. What a delight!

 

3. The Earth Wakes Up. (Spring) This movement is all about the beginning of spring where everything begins growing again. Considering how ancient and primal the joy of springtime is of course reminded me of Stravinsky’s “The Rite of Spring.” Theme number one in this movement takes that famous poly-chordal palette, gives the tuba the solo moment and lets the rest of the ensemble dance the primordial dance of rebirth. The low brass and horns state a slower majestic theme that represents the mountains and plains returning to full bloom only to be joined by trumpets in straight mutes playing the part of birds and bees flitting around the flowers. We end with the nod to Stravinsky once again as the riot of returning animals, flowers, birds and insects all dance at once.

 

4. A Hike to The Lake. (Summer) In the final movement we are presented with the answer to why a majority of people in Colorado are in good shape: hiking! The canon theme in the intro represents the mountain, then combining the mountain theme with slowly ascending harmonies in the low brass that represent climbing said awesome geological wonder. As it is now full summer, the journey is arduous, but the numinous nature of our surroundings inspires us to keep going, ever upwards and onwards. At last, when the antiphonal choir, timpani and cymbals join in, we have reached the highest point and have discovered a spectacular glacial lake. A major sensual delight and indicative of the wonders to be found in Colorado.