Program note
An anxious lament for love lost, borrowing musical inspiration from the plainsong, “Dies Irae.” The emotional context is sadness and futility, which transmutes into edgy feelings of anger. The metaphoric realization that came to mind was that moving on would involve something like walking barefoot across a floor covered with sharp wires. – RW
Turning Tides
Virtual World premiere performed by the Portland Youth Conservatory Strings April 10, 2021. Commissioned by the Portland Youth Philharmonic for the Youth Orchestra Commissioning Initiative.
Score and set of Parts are available through Subito Music Distribution.
Program note: In the autumn of 2020, I was feeling the forces of change and this became the emotional inspiration for the music. The feelings brought an image to mind of trying to balance on separate floats riding the currents, which sometimes move independently in different directions – creating a level of uncertainty and adventure, not quite sure of how to achieve a balance or how to maintain a footing while navigating the “turning tides.” – RW
“In my years of teaching general music as an Orff-Schulwerk music specialist for Pre-K through 6th grade elementary classes, I have never found “classical” music to be beyond the emotional range of my students – at any age. I believe that the real experience of music is about discovery and finding a sense of “ownership” of the process (whether as a musician performing or an audience member listening) and emotional identification. It would be so exciting to be able to share my music with youth orchestras. And, especially with regard to performing contemporary classical works, to share the sense of making history with the performance of a premiere!” – RW
My original video intro for the April 10, 2021 Portland Youth Philharmonic Festival virtual premiere of my commissioned piece “Turning Tides“ for the Youth Conservatory Strings.
Within Deep Currents
Recorded by the Janáček Philharmonic Orchestra Ostrava, Conductor, Stanislav Vavřínek for PARMA Recordings.
Score purchase is available through Subito Music Distribution. Purchase original CD release.
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It’s a thrill to receive the recognition of a Global Music Silver Medal for “Within Deep Currents” in the composer/composition category.
“Within Deep Currents” conveys some of the feelings I have had during this epic time of a global pandemic – a sense of immersion within a flow of time and a feeling of being slowly pulled along by underlying currents, as dynamic forces exert their influences through an interplay of diverse energies. – RW
August 2020 Livestream Premiere: Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra, Conductor, Stanislav Vavřínek
In Passages – violin soloist & string orchestra
Score available through Subito Music Distribution. Purchase original CD release.
Album features the recording by the Croatian Chamber Orchestra with Miran Vaupotić, Conductor, and Mojca Ramušćak, violin soloist.
Concert performance video features the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra with Miran Vaupotić, Conductor, and Orest Shourgot, violin soloist.
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Program Note: As with most of my works, the music arises from the emotional experience of life. I think of this as a reflection on the passages of emotion — that ebb and flow of the feelings that continually emerge and recede repeatedly throughout life. The music is written to blend the soloist and the orchestra, rather than the traditional role of the soloist being in the forefront. The soloist should seem to emerge from the orchestra in much the way that intense feelings seem to surface from the unconscious, giving voice to our inner emotional currents, and then recede back into the chorus of the subliminal. – RW
