Stephen
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Wind Band
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A musical portrait of my brother
This is music that 'breathes' – good phrasing and shaping is essential for bringing it to life Program note:
I have been writing musical ‘portraits’ for a while now. So far they have mostly been solo piano pieces dedicated to people I know well (but let me know if you’d be interested in commissioning one!). Stephen is my younger brother, and I first wrote his portrait as a piano work in 2019. I sensed from the beginning that its repetitive breath-length phrases would translate well into a wind orchestra arrangement, so here it is.
The way a musical portrait can be said to depict its subject is rather mysterious, and open to interpretation. One image I definitely had in mind at the beginning was my brother slowly waking up (he’s not a morning person). But as I hope you will hear, there’s much more to Stephen than that. © David John Lang 2022 Performance note:
The breath marks indicated in the score should be heard as definite breaks in the phrasing, slowing down the music as necessary but without interrupting the sense of flow from one section to another. The gradual thinning of the texture in bars 69–72 should sound as smooth as possible, the song bells and vibraphone being heard as the 'afterglow' of the wind instruments as they discreetly drop out.
Stephen was first performed by the Adelaide Wind Orchestra, conducted by David John Lang, on 26th November 2022 at the St Peter's Girls' College Performing Arts Centre, Stonyfell, SA, Australia. The above recording was made by the Adelaide Wind Orchestra, conducted by Bryan Griffiths, in April 2023. It was recorded by Ray Thomas. |
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