SKU: PR.114422690

UPC: 680160684809. 9 x 12 inches.

In 2014, I enjoyed a wonderful residence at the Ucross Foundation in Clearmont,
Wyoming. Ucross is an artist colony that gives writers, composers, and visual artists the
gift of time, space, and support to follow their artistic pursuits; we are provided with
studio space, housing, and meals so that we can work continuously on our projects. I have
been in residence at numerous artist colonies; however, nothing in my previous
experiences prepared me for living in such isolated, wild country. Ucross is situated on a
20,000-acre cattle ranch at nearly 4,000 feet in elevation with fewer than 150 people
living within the town. But what Clearmont lacks in population, it makes up for
abundantly and spectacularly in wilderness and wildlife. I composed the sextet Postcards
from Wyoming to offer three glimpses of what I found to be the most striking aspects of
my residence. The Solitude of Stars, the third and final movement of the original sextet,
was inspired by the stunning nightly display of the heavens above. Without city lights
dimming the night sky, countless stars shone brightly over the vast expanse of the prairie.
This edition is part of The Solitude of Stars Project that I undertook during the 2020
COVID-19 pandemic, which consists of a series of arrangements that I made for
colleagues and friends.
In 2014, I enjoyed a wonderful residence at the Ucross Foundation in Clearmont, Wyoming. Ucross is an artist colony that gives writers, composers, and visual artists the gift of time, space, and support to follow their artistic pursuits; we are provided with studio space, housing, and meals so that we can work continuously on our projects. I have been in residence at numerous artist colonies; however, nothing in my previous experiences prepared me for living in such isolated, wild country. Ucross is situated on a 20,000-acre cattle ranch at nearly 4,000 feet in elevation with fewer than 150 people living within the town. But what Clearmont lacks in population, it makes up for abundantly and spectacularly in wilderness and wildlife. I composed the sextet Postcards from Wyoming to offer three glimpses of what I found to be the most striking aspects of my residence. The Solitude of Stars, the third and final movement of the original sextet, was inspired by the stunning nightly display of the heavens above. Without city lights dimming the night sky, countless stars shone brightly over the vast expanse of the prairie. This edition is part of The Solitude of Stars Project that I undertook during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, which consists of a series of arrangements that I made for colleagues and friends.
In 2014, I enjoyed a wonderful residence at the Ucross Foundation in Clearmont,Wyoming. Ucross is an artist colony that gives writers, composers, and visual artists thegift of time, space, and support to follow their artistic pursuits; we are provided withstudio space, housing, and meals so that we can work continuously on our projects. I havebeen in residence at numerous artist colonies; however, nothing in my previousexperiences prepared me for living in such isolated, wild country. Ucross is situated on a20,000-acre cattle ranch at nearly 4,000 feet in elevation with fewer than 150 peopleliving within the town. But what Clearmont lacks in population, it makes up forabundantly and spectacularly in wilderness and wildlife. I composed the sextet Postcardsfrom Wyoming to offer three glimpses of what I found to be the most striking aspects ofmy residence. The Solitude of Stars, the third and final movement of the original sextet,was inspired by the stunning nightly display of the heavens above. Without city lightsdimming the night sky, countless stars shone brightly over the vast expanse of the prairie.This edition is part of The Solitude of Stars Project that I undertook during the 2020COVID-19 pandemic, which consists of a series of arrangements that I made forcolleagues and friends.

SKU: PR.466411770

UPC: 680160640850. 9 x 12 inches.

Mississippi I. Father of Waters: born of the Highlands and the Lakes; the Glaciers, the Mountains, and the Prairies. The picture of your birth is clounded in the ice and mists of ancient ages but your spirit remains our life stream. II. The Red Man knew your bountiful gifts and gave thanks to the Great Spirit on your banks. -- The Spanish and French Fathers brought the glory of Christianity to America on Mississippi. But all men, white and dark; -- Indian, Spaniard, and Negro; Bourbon and Yankee, combined to make Mississippi the heart of America. Saga of the Mississippi Harl McDonald Born near Boulder, Colorado, July 27, 1899 Now living in Philadelphia The original suggestion for a symphonic work on the subject of the Mississippi came indirectly from the late Booth Tarkington who saw in it color and movement and atmosphere translatable into the terms of music. In the course of time, by the mysterious processes of composers' chemistry, it took shape as a tone-poem of two sections, one representing the rise of the great stream from its primeval geologic sources, the other the human history of the river. Mr. McDonald devised the following verbal outline of the general scheme of his diptych: I. Father of Waters: born of the Highlands and the Lakes; the Glaciers, the Mountains, and the Prairies. The picture of your birth is clounded in the ice and mists of ancient ages but your spirit remains our life stream. II. The Red Man knew your bountiful gifts and gave thanks to the Great Spirit on your banks. -- The Spanish and French Fathers brought the glory of Christianity to America on Mississippi. But all men, white and dark; -- Indian, Spaniard, and Negro; Bourbon and Yankee, combined to make Mississippi the heart of America. The first of the two movements, beginning molto andante, is vaguel modal to hint at antiquity. It is built upon the conventional two themes, with an episode, poco piu mosso, misterioso, for prehistoric murk and muck. There are various changes of pace and mood. The second, Allegro ma vigorosamente, prefigures an Indian ceremony. A theme presented by flute, clarinet and bassoon is a Canadian Indian fishing call collected by the late J.B. Beck. A later passage of quasi-Gregorian chant identifies the French and Spanish priests who made the great river their highway. The fishing-call is altered in rhythm and harmony to represent Negro field hands and roustabous. A turbulent close brings all these elemts together in the muddy swirling currents of the Mississippi. The work was begun in the summer of 1945, and was revised and completed in the summer of 1947. Harl McDonald, who is the manager of The Philadelphia Orchestra, has concerned himself with music as an art, as a science and as a business in course of his career. He was born on a cattle ranch in the Rockies, but since his was a musical family, his up-bringing combined piano lessons with ranch life. Years of study and professional experience followed in Los Angeles and in Germany. In 1927 he was appointed lecuter in composition at the University of Pennsylvania and he has since then made is home in Philadelphia. In 1933 under a grant of the Rockefeller FOundation he collaborated with physicists in research dealing with the measurement of instrumental and vocal tone, new scale divisions and the resultant harmonies. In that same year he was named head of the University's music faculty and conductor of its choral organizations. In 1939, having been a member of the Board of Directors for five years, he was appointed manager of The Philadelphia Orchestra. He continus to write, but otherwise his entire attention is now devoted to managerial duties. Chief items in the catalogue of his compositions are four symphonies, three orchestra suites, a half-dozen tone-poems, three concertos and considerable quantity of choral music.