Joseph Schwantner: "In evening's stillness"
Continuing on with Joseph Schwantner, here is information and a recording of his piece for wind ensemble, In evening's stillness.
In evening’s stillness was commissioned by the Illinois College Band Directors Association in 1996. It was premiered at the Midwest Music Educators National Conference convention in Peoria, Illinois, by an ensemble made up of students from the ten universities that participated in the consortium, Donald Hunsberger conducting. As in his previous two works for wind ensemble, In evening’s stillness was inspired by poetry:
In evening’s stillness
a gentle breeze,
distant thunder
encircles the silence.
-Joseph Schwantner
"The piece is the third of three works I have written for winds, brass, percussion, and piano. It forms the middle movement of a trilogy of pieces that includes ...and the mountains rising nowhere and From a Dark Millennium. In all three works, the piano is responsible for presenting the primary melodic, gestural, harmonic, and sonoric elements that unfold in the music. While each work is self-contained, I always envisioned the possibility that they could be combined to form a larger and more expansive three movement formal design.”
Program Note by Nikk Pilato
Joseph Schwantner, In evening's stillness
University of North Texas Wind Symphony, Eugene Corporon, conductor