SKU: CF.CPS272
ISBN 9781491163719. UPC: 680160922505.
Pelican Dance was composed in 2022 as part of my annual commitment to create a piece to be premiered by our University of Mobile High School Honor Band. I had a beginning concept for a “dance†piece and was leaning toward something which was a little quirky, fun and not too serious. One day, during my regular commute across Mobile Bay, I noticed the pelicans, elegant birds in the air and water but awkward on land. I tried to imagine a pelican dancing and decided I had my mascot and theme.The opening motif, played in octaves by the whole ensemble in the first measure, is fundamental for the entire work. It is stated in some form at the beginning of each section, is the basis for the first theme and is even used as the bass line later in the piece. It should be clearly stated each time it appears.Performance considerations: Although there are contrasting moments in the work, the tempo should never waiver. It should remain brisk and consistent from section to section.Dynamic contrast is an important aspect of the compositional design and stylistic makeup of the piece. The subito dynamics, fp, etc., need to be almost startling.Percussion drives the energy of this composition to a strong degree, and it is probably the most fun section in the band for this piece. Covering those parts effectively is critically important.
SKU: CF.CPS272F
ISBN 9781491164112. UPC: 680160922901.
SKU: PR.111402850
ISBN 9781491132005. UPC: 680160680627. What the Living Do by Maria Howe.
The poetry of Marie Howe has a special place in Ricky Ian Gordon’s heart and mind, both haunting and soothing. WITHOUT MUSIC is a five-movement work in which Howe’s words and Gordon’s music together give voice to longterm grieving for a loved one lost to AIDS. The work was commissioned by Music Academy of the West for their 2019 Marilyn Horne Song Competition Winners’ Recital Tour.For a long time, I have been in dialogue with the poems of Marie Howe. Some poets speak so directly to you that they become a second voice inside you. I have so many of her poems memorized, and I speak them so often because at certain moments I know she will say it better than me.Many I have set or tried to set and felt dissatisfied and put them away. Marie’s poems are so plain spoken, you want them to feel, if you are taking the trouble to set them to music, that the songs are plain spoken as well... because it would be criminal to set Marie’s poems in a way that obscures the words and makes them feel distant or remote.I first heard Kelsey Lauritano in a Master Class that Stephanie Blythe was giving at Juilliard. I was bowled over by her poise, the beauty of her voice, her engagement with her body and her connection to text. She is a real artist through and through. I wanted to create a cycle for her where it felt like she was talking to the audience in the most intimate way possible. I wanted to be able to see her heart.These five poems are from Marie’s book, “What the Living Do,†the book which was published eight years after her brother Johnny died at 28 from AIDS. The book is impossibly beautiful, as clear as a spring in a remote forest... the poems simply tell the story of Johnny’s illness and Marie’s relationship with it, and him... as Marie would put it, they are “how some of it happened.â€I lost my partner Jeffrey Grossi to AIDS in 1996, so needless to say, this book, and Marie’s poems were balm for me... one of the myriad ways I got through an excruciating time, as Jeffrey’s death followed practically, the death of my entire community. I feel bad, and even awkward, that this is still so much a part of my story, but it is. Is it PTSD, or just, not wanting to forget? I don’t know. But these songs are steeped in that time.
