Wednesday, May 12, 2010

"The Prophecy of Dante with Commentary by Keats"


This is a very small excerpt from a chamber ensemble work that was premiered on our Rochester/Fredonia tour. It is scored for solo soprano, violin, oboe, piano and two percussionists. The work is around 20 minutes long and best done with a conductor. It is very beautiful and though it contains a challenging vocal part, our amazing soloist Jamie Jordan was superb and said that it actually laid quite well for the voice. You can click here to see score samples.  


What is so interesting about this piece is that the commentary is never sung and instead can be found as part of a program note supplement. In terms of its use of the Loboe, it extends to the lowest range about three times during the piece. During our open rehearsal in Rochester, one of Eastman's composition faculty happened to be sitting directly across from me.  As we played through the above passage, he immediately smiled and looked over my way; his first time hearing an oboe's low A! 

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