Emerging Spring

orchestra
(2024)

A recording of the premiere performance of “Emerging Spring”, as performed by the National Kaohsiung Normal Univerity Orchestra with Chan Wang conducting can be heard on YouTube.

This piece, composed for conductor Chan Wang and the National Kaohsiung Normal University Orchestra, was conceived of as an energetic “concert opener”, even though it begins quietly. The title reflects a sense of growing optimism that exists within the music. The piece begins delicately, with simple clarinet solos initiating a process of growing, or emerging that spreads throughout the orchestra. As more instruments enter and the texture becomes thicker, the music evolves from delicate intimacy to energetic excitement. Eventually, brass and drums take over with fanfares, as if to announce that Spring has arrived. A quiet and expressive oboe solo then follows, but it eventually leads back to a reprise of the simple melodic idea that began the piece. As that motive gets passed around the orchestra, the music grows louder and thicker again until the fanfares return to finish the piece with bright optimism.

(duration ca. 9 minutes)

Instrumentation:
2 flues (2 doubles picc)
2 oboes
2 clarinets in Bb
1 bass clarinet in Bb
2 bassoons

4 horns in F
2 trumpets in C
3 trombones (TTB)
1 tuba

timpani (4 drums)

percussion 1:
glockenspiel
chimes
vibraphone (may be shared w/perc. 2)

percussion 2:
vibraphone (may be shared w/perc. 1)
5 tom-toms
castanet (mounted on a stand or tray)
large suspended cymbal

percussion 3:
marimba
snare drum
large suspended cymbal
tambourine (mounted on a stand or tray)
bass drum

strings