As the Lights Go Out
General Info
Year: 2018
Duration: c. 16:05
Difficulty: VII (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Murphy Music Press
Cost: Score and Parts - $250.00
Movements
1. Aftermath
2. Down the Tunnel
3. Resignation
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II-III
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:
- Bass Drum
- Bongos, low and high
- Brake Drum
- Glockenspiel
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tam-Tam
- Temple Blocks
- Tom-Toms, mid and low
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Electronics
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
As the Lights Go Out is a physical and spiritual immersion into the brain of a dying person. This immersion involves the body’s panicked physiological response to a lethal event, while covering the conscious mind’s simultaneous perspective of this event. Said perspective is a direct result of the brain’s loss of oxygen, resulting in a near-death experience that leaves much to the imagination. While near-death experiences often involve a full recovery back to health, this piece offers insight into a brain that does not recover.
Movement I titled Aftermath is the bodily response to the event. With frantic figures and intense, bombastic counterpoint, this opening movement slowly segues from panic to reserved acceptance. As the fight becomes more futile, the body’s acceptance of death is more a result of exhaustion than a desire for the end. While this transition is somewhat linear, there are signs of the body’s resurgence in the form of intrusive interruptions in the ensemble even near the end of the movement. Voices in the electronics represent a conscious resignation to death to accompany the bodily resignation to the same fate.
Movement II titled Down the Tunnel is a rewinding of sorts to the first-person perspective of the conscious mind during the events of movement I. As the brain loses oxygen, spiritual encounters (or encounters that, at the very least, seem spiritual) occur in the mind. Survivors of such experiences describe a bright light, meeting passed loved ones or meeting a deity of some kind. This movement introduces more concrete sounds of voices that become prominent as the situation grows dire. Interjectory fanfares in the brass represent a fruitless effort to survive.
Movement III titled Resignation begins with a complete surrender to the spiritual encounter. The conclusion of the movement is the bodily failure that accompanies this surrender. With the sound of a flat-lining heart monitor in the electronics, the corresponding wind ensemble evokes the impending death. The event is both awe-inspiring and frightening with the closing gestures offering little resolution and even fewer answers.
- Program Note from score
Awards
- ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, 2021, winner
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Georgia (Athens) Hodgson Wind Ensemble (Cynthia Johnston Turner, conductor) – 23 April 2019
- Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Va.) Wind Ensemble (Jonathan Caldwell, conductor) – 24 February 2019 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Confronting Chaos (Flex instrumentation) (2022)
All Wind Works
- As the Lights Go Out (2019)
- Confronting Chaos (Flex instrumentation) (2022)
- Distant Mist (2012)
- The Elusive Forest Spirit (2015)
- Glimmer and Flash (2016)
- Hymns for the Cardinals (2014)
- Light Pillars 92014)
- Static Clouds (2016)
- Surging Home (2019)
- Virgil's Descent (2012)
Resources
- "AS THE LIGHTS GO OUT For Wind Ensemble and Electronics by Ben Robichaux (USA, 1991)." WASBE. Web. (Featured as WASBE’s Composition of the Week, 25 April 2022). Accessed 8 January 2023
- Ben Robichaux, personal correspondence, March 2019
- Ben Robichaux website Accessed 28 March 2019
- Perusal score