Gleams from the Bosom of Darkness

From Wind Repertory Project
Lior Navok

Lior Navok


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General Info

Year: 2002
Duration: c. 19:30
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Lior Novak Music
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II-III (III doubling C Piccolo)
Alto Flute
Oboe I-II-III (III doubling English Horn)
Bassoon I-II-III (III doubling Contrabassoon)
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV-V-VI
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
B-flat Flugelhorn I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV-V-VI
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba I-II
String Bass
Piano/Celeste
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V

(percussion detail desired)

Narrators I-II-III
Soprano
Chorus, on-stage
Women's Chorus, off-stage


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Commissioned by the MIT Chorus and Wind Ensemble and 19 U.S.- based universities. Gleams from the Bosom of Darkness was commissioned by “The Frank L. Battisti 70th Birthday Commission Project”, and is fondly dedicated to Frank Battisti with high appreciation of his life achievements. The work is based on texts of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

- Program Note by Sax New Works


Gleams from the Bosom of Darkness (2002) for symphonic band and chorus is influenced by the various sources of light: the moon, stars, lanterns, lighthouses, who guide our way through the darkness. Light has different intensities, different colors and different halos. It flickers, twinkles, shimmers, dazzles, gleams, dims. All of these visual images found their way into my score. Therefore, Gleams from the Bosom of Darkness is a journey through darkness while being surrounded by ever-changing sources of light. In the symbolic way, the light help us pass from darkness into a better place in our lives: from hard times to better ones.

The endless coloristic opportunities that chorus and wind ensemble can give drove me to create an atmospheric, mysterious and somewhat meditative work rather than a piece that uses the wind ensemble as an accompaniment to the chorus: blocks of sound and rapidly changing colors instead of lyrical melodies or functional harmonies. The chorus and the wind ensemble are one body; both are instruments as well as voices.

My search for texts ended when I read the poems and other writings of Henry W. Longfellow (1807-1882.) Longfellow’s work is full of descriptive images of light and darkness, both in the visual and the symbolic sense. His poems are the closest written descriptions of light and darkness as I imagined while writing the music. Written at time when electricity was barely introduced, the poems still bring a romantic quality into the visual element of light; a more personal contact between the man and his light. In my composition, I used fragments from various poems to support the musical statement of light and darkness.

Gleams from the Bosom of Darkness was commissioned by “The Frank L. Battisti 70th Birthday Commission Project”, and is fondly dedicated to Frank Battisti with high appreciation of his life achievements.

- Program Note by composer


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • New England Conservatory (Boston, Mass.) Wind Ensemble and Chamber Singers (Charles Peltz, conductor) – 27 April 2010
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology Chorus and Wind Ensemble (Boston, Mass.) (Fred Harris, conductor) – 29 April 2005 *Premiere Performance*


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources