Hymn to a Blue Hour (2013) for trombone ensemble. John Mackey. commissioned by the Washington Trombone Ensemble

Transcription

1 Hymn to a lue Hour (013) or tromone ensemle John Mackey commissioned y the Washington Tromone Ensemle or erusal use only --.ostimusic.com Coyright 013 Osti Music

2 rogram Note The lue hour is an ot-oeticized moment o the day - a lingering tilight that halos the sky ater sundon ut eore comlete darkness sets in. It is a time o day knon or its romantic, siritual, and ethereal connotations, and this magical moment has requently insired artists to attemt to cature its remarkale essence. This is the same essence that inhaits the sonic orld o John Mackey's Hymn to a lue Hour. rogrammatic content aside, the title itsel contains to strongly suggestive imlications - irst, the notion o hymnody, hich imlies a transcendent and erhas even sacred tone; and second, the color lue, hich has an inexorale tie to American music. Certainly Hymn to a lue Hour is not directly inluenced y the lues, er se, ut there is requently throughout the iece a sense o nostalgic remorse and longing - an overhelming sadness that is the same as the tyically morose jazz orm. lue also has a strong ailiation ith noility, authority, and calmness. All o these notions are oven into the aric o the iece - erhas a result o Mackey using hat as, or him, an unconventional comositional method: I almost never rite music 'at the iano' ecause I don't have any iano technique. I can ind chords, ut I lay iano like a ad tyist tyes: adly. I I rite the music using an instrument here I can arely get y, the result ill e very dierent than i I sit at the comuter and just thro a zillion notes at my samle lirary, all o hich ill e executed erectly and at any dynamic level I ask. We sent the summer at an aartment in Ne York that had a nice uright iano. I don't have a iano at home in Austin - only a digital keyoard - and it as very dierent to sit and rite at a real iano ith real edals and a real action, and to do so in the middle o one o the most exciting and energetic (and loud) cities in America. The result - artially thanks to my lack o iano technique, and artially, I susect, rom a suconscious need to alance the noise and relentless energy o the city surrounding me at the time - is much simler and lyrical music than I tyically rite. Though not comosed as a comanion ork to his earlier Aurora Aakes, Hymn to a lue Hour strikes at many o the same chords, only in a sort o rogrammatic inversion. While Aurora Aakes deals ith the emergence o light rom darkness, Hymn to a lue Hour is thematically linked to the moments just ater sundon - erhas even reresenting the same moment a hal a orld aay. The oening slo section o Aurora Aakes does share some similar harmonic content, and the yearning ithin the melodic rushstrokes seem to e cast in the same light. The iece is comosed largely rom three recurring motives - irst, a cascade o alling thirds; second, a steise descent that rovides a musical sigh; and third, the descent's reverse: an ascent that imues hoeul otimism. rom the asic rameork o these motives stated at the outset o the ork, a eautiul duet emerges eteen horn and euhonium - creating a texture sun together into a illoy lanket o sound, reminiscent o similar constructions elicited y great American melodists o the 0th century, such as Samuel arer. This melody suerimoses a sensation o joy over the otherise lue emotive context - a melodic line that over a long eriod o time sins the ork to a oint o catharsis. In this climactic moment, the colors are at their rightest, enveloing their surroundings ith an angelic glo. Alas, as is the case ith the magical lue hour, the moment cannot last or long, and just as steadily as they arrived, the colors dissiate into the encroaching darkness, eventually succuming at the ork's conclusion ith a sense o eaceul reose. or erusal use only --.ostimusic.com -rogram note y Jake Wallace. Used ith ermission. lease credit Jake Wallace hen reroducing or excerting this rogram note.

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9 Ten. Ten. Ten. ass Ten. Ten. Ten. ass K a temo, ut even more reely, stretching the end o hrases (in 3) N... J... J.. J L (in ) molto rit N. N J J J or erusal use only rit. ( q=8 ) molto molto n. molto n. molto n. molto n. a temo, immediately allarg. U. U> U >.. U. J U.. >U U. U. U. h=50 (q=100) rit.. a temo J ( h=, q=8 ) - -.ostimusic.com

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11 Ten. Ten. Ten. ass Ten. Ten. Ten. ass h.=30 (q=0) 103 (in ) oco rit or erusal use only R very reely. solo 3 Q ith more motion tutti #...ostimusic.com