“What’s New” – May 12, 2023

Hello MSW Friends!

Your section leader has received electronic copies of your section’s music. Please be on the lookout for an email from your section leader with your parts. Remember that you’re responsible for printing your own parts this concert cycle

Rehearsal starts well before our first downbeat on March 15. Please take a moment to listen to our repertoire and study your parts. 

Incandescence, Sims
Listen
Quarter = 160

Incandescence is a tribute to scientist and artistic scholar Lewis Latimer, who invented the carbon filament light bulb. From the composer: “Follow Latimer’s journey as floating melodies wander high and low, dodging any obstacles placed along the way.” 

Into the Blue, Hobbs
Listen
Quarter = 144

Into the Blue pays homage to blues music and the blues scale. Hobbs found inspiration for Into the Blue listening to jazz and blues music during a beach vacation. Listen for a nod to Gershwin!

Murmurations, Holmquist
Quarter = 126

Commissioned by our own Paul Kile for Edina High School, Murmurations conjures images of millions of starlings flocking and settling in for the night. Listen for the musical styles of Bach, Hindemith, and Mahler. 

Sonate, Vignery, arr. Harpstead
Listen
Quarter = 138

This is an arrangement of a solo piece for horn written by Belgian composer Jane Vignery.

Together, Now, Harpstead
Quarter = 168

Composed by our very own Ella Harpstead! In her own words: Together, Now is a piece inspired by the feeling of anticipatory nostalgia, or nostalgia for a time that has not yet come to a close. As musicians, we have the privilege of building connections with hundreds of people at once, between our ensemble-mates and the audience. It’s a connection you can feel, as sound waves bridge us in a given space. As musicians, we also know how precious that ability to connect is. It’s why final performances are such an emotional event . . . When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, many of us played our last concerts of the “before time” without realizing it. . . . Death and tragedy seem closer and more constant than ever, and we’ve had to familiarize ourselves with the truth that tomorrow is never guaranteed. This piece challenges musicians to play as if it was their last opportunity to do so. To think about the emotional connections that music has the ability to build, and to treasure the moments spent creating sound with people you love.    

Thank you!
Amanda Lanser
MSW librarian
amanda.c.lanser@gmail.com