A Concert: "In Wilderness is the Preservation of the World"
Priscilla McLean
About this work:
“On Wings of Song”: A ten-minute song for soprano, bowed amplified bicycle wheel, and tape, this is a tribute to the most vexing and important of all wilderness voices -- the mosquito. The text is from Stewart Edward White’s “The Forest”. The tape includes two mosquitos and an alto bee, plus bicycle wheel sounds and soprano singing. “Invocation”: Second piece in the set, after “On Wings of Song”, this has been compared to Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” in its build-up and intensity, as an ancient Eskimo song is sung (on tape) while live chorus sings another, and the audience and soprano soloist-leader sing a shorter composed song, while wolves howl, drums beat, and live woodwinds add to the mix, along with Australian black swans (tape). “O Beautiful Suburbia!” is a black humor piece for soprano and autoharp, chorus, audience singing, struck amplified (processed) bicycle wheel and tape. “America the Beautiful” is sung while a build-up of cacaphonius suburban and urban sounds intrude, climaxing in a litany of dog pound barks and obnoxious television commercials. Then comes silence and narrators describing the wilderness as Henry David Thoreau saw it, ending with a hauntingly beautiful wolf chorus, with narration from Ewan Clarkson’s “Wolf Country”.
Version: Three Pieces from Set of 5
Year composed: 1985
Duration: 00:29:00
Ensemble type: Voice, Solo or With Chamber or Jazz Ensemble:Two or More Solo Voices with Chamber/Jazz Ensemble, 2-5 players
Instrumentation: ,1 Soprano soloist(s), ,2 Narrator soloist(s), 1 S, 1 A, 1 T, 1 B, 1 Unison Voices, ,1 Prerecorded Sound (Tape/CD/Other) soloist(s), ,2 Other Wind Instrument(s) soloist(s), ,2 Other Percussion Instrument(s) soloist(s), ,2 Other Stringed Instrument(s) soloist(s)
Instrumentation notes: Audience unison singing with the soprano director. Chorus can be live or on tape