Stephen

Piano

A musical portrait of my brother

This is music that 'breathes' – good phrasing and shaping is essential for bringing it to life

Program note:

Stephen is my younger brother, and I first wrote his portrait as a piano solo in 2019. I sensed from the beginning that its repetitive breath-length phrases would translate well into a wind band arrangement, and so I arranged a version for the Adelaide Wind Orchestra in 2022.

The way a musical portrait depicts its subject is often rather mysterious. But one image I definitely had in mind at the beginning was my brother slowly waking up (he’s not a morning person). Nevertheless, as I hope you will hear, there’s much more to Stephen than that.

© David John Lang 2022

Performance note:

This score lacks dynamics, because I found that my interpretation changed every time I played it. I want other performers to also have this same freedom to find their own interpretation.
Having said that, if you are really stuck, the wind band version of this piece has – of necessity – much more in the way of expression marks, outlining one particular interpretation. In any case, please play with lots of expression.

There are no time signatures, and the barlines are merely there to show the structure of the music. Double barlines can be interpreted as short breaks (or punctuation marks) between sections, but single barlines should not interrupt the musical flow.

Stephen was first performed by David John Lang on 28th November 2020 in an online concert, streamed from our living room.

Duration: 5 minutes

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this piece also exists in a version for wind band