|
This work is almost complete, with only some orchestration editing and score readability editing remaining. The level of difficulty for the sections are in the Level V and VI range, placing it within the range of a topnotch high school band and most college and university wind ensembles, military bands and many community bands. Score, parts and a synthesized version of the piece are available from me. Here are the names of each section of DaVinci Transcending Time and the quotations by Leonardo DaVinci which helped inspire the music. 1st Part: All Works Dwell In Time “Among the great things which are found among us the existence of Nothing is the greatest. This dwells in time, and stretches it limbs into the past and the future, and with these takes to itself all works that are past and those that are future, and with these take to itself all works that are past and those that are to come, both of nature and of the animals, and possesses nothing of the indivisible present.” - Leonardo DaVinci 2nd Part: Judgment of Time “Our judgment does not reckon in their exact and proper order things which have come to pass at different periods of time: for many things which happened many years ago will seem nearly related to the present, and many things that are recent will seem ancient, extending back to the far-off period of our youth.” - Leonardo DaVinci 3rd Part: Impetus, Power, Movement & Life “Impetus is a power created by movement and transmitted from the mover to the movable thing; and this movable thing has as much movement as the impetus has life.” - Leonardo DaVinci 4th Part: Gravity, Force, Movement & Percussion “Gravity, force and material movement together with percussion are four accidental powers in which all the visible works of mortals have their being and their death.” - Leonardo DaVinci 5th Part: Flight of Time “Wrongfully do men lament the flight of time, accusing it of being too swift, and not perceiving that its period is yet sufficient; but good memory wherewith Nature has endowed us causes everything long past to seem present.” - Leonardo DaVinci
Evening Walk utilizes a repeating pattern until the very end, grounding it with the steady rhythm of walking. Its constant 5/4 helps musicians to settle into this more unusual meter as easily as taking an evening walk. Waves Lapping was inspired by watching and listening to the continually varying length of time it took for each wave from the Great Lake, Lake Superior, to wash up the beach and back down into the lake. At the time I observed those waves, they were generally moving at the pace reflected in the varying rhythm of this piece. In Prayer-like, the pianist uses very close hand positions, which along with liberal use of the pedal, evokes sonorities that are contemplative, haunting and meditative. The main theme of Sleep Now was written many years ago, when my oldest daughter, who has been an adult for over a decade, was four years old. She had awoken from a bad dream in the middle of the night and was crying. I took her into the living room to calm her down. While sitting with her on the couch, watching a gentle snowfall out the window, this theme and the lyrics of the piece came to me and once she was settled, I wrote them out. I recently found this sketch and added the middle instrumental interlude to complete the piece and this collection.
The choice of a brass choir, (consisting of 3 trumpets, 3 French horns, 2 trombones and a tuba), as well as timpani drums, tam-tam and cymbals, pays tribute to Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for The Common Man, a work that relates directly to the role of libraries as places where the world’s knowledge may be accessed freely by all of our citizens, irrespective of disabilities or economic status. The instrumentation of brass, tam-tam, cymbals and timpani takes inspiration from the architecture of the new library building, with its generous use of copper and round lines. The piece resonates with the building’s architecture by utilizing four timpani, in which the instruments themselves are copper and round. Likewise, the tam-tam and cymbals are round and metal. The brass instruments are metal and the shape of their bells is round. The work incorporates metallic sounds through the use of hard sticks played on metal bands. The Dedication Fanfare for Brass Choir and Percussion was premiered by a group of musicians from the St. Cloud, MN Symphony and faculty and staff from Saint Cloud State University, The College of St. Benedict and St Johns University in Central Minnesota. It was conducted by Dr. Richard Hansen, Director of Bands at SCSU University. Sheet music is available from Richard Chandler. “Sketches from DaVinci Transcending Time” by Richard J. Chandler
These alto and baritone saxophone sketches comprise some of the thematic material for a larger work based on the writings of Leonardo DaVinci. It is being written for the Saint Cloud State University Wind Ensemble, for which Richard Chandler plays contrabassoon, and is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2009. The sheet music for these duets is available for sale through MusicChandler|IntegraLife Publishing. “Wrongfully do men lament the flight of time, accusing it of being too swift, and not perceiving that its period is yet sufficient; but good memory wherewith Nature has endowed us causes everything long past to seem present.” |
|
|
Copyright © 2013 Richard J Chandler - All Rights Reserved | | Log in |
|
In Evening Begins, the feeling that inspired the piece is transition. Its joyful mood captures the feeling of having just finished one’s work day or school day and the feeling of looking forward to the rest of the evening. The dance-like rhythmic interplay of bass and treble along with the use of short bursts of silence propel the piece forward to its boisterous ending.