Hope Rising (Image Music XXXI) for Wind Ensemble
Greg A. Steinke
About this work:
Program Notes
HOPE RISING
(Image Music XXXI)
for
Wind Ensemble
The composing of HOPE RISING presented an interesting challenge to me in wanting to create a piece that was not only reflective of and celebratory of the WINDS 30th Anniversary but also reflective of the Western Michigan milieu. The piece has been based in part on musical materials and instruments associated with a variety of cultures.
To that end I researched and then internalized the result into a composition that attempts to create a sound world of the Western Michigan and Muskegon areas. To accomplish this I have indulged in musical quotations from several cultures and call upon musical motives and ideas from my own imagination. These quotations, sounds, and musical “motifs” have then been hopefully “blended” and fitted into a more or less contemporary musical “mixture.” The musical landscape of the piece proceeds as kind of past, present, and future.
I hope the piece, like much of my music, can be enjoyed within whatever musical milieu and experience each listener brings to the performance. Ultimately the music must speak for itself, and for each listener it either will or won’t or may be somewhere in between. Please hear, listen, and enjoy.
Year composed: 2009
Duration: 00:10:00
Ensemble type: Band:Wind Ensemble
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation notes: requires harp & piano