In the Beginning

From Wind Repertory Project
Stephen Melillo

Stephen Melillo


General Info

Year: 1992
Duration: c. 12:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Stormworks
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $155.00; (digital) - $140.00   |   Score Only (print) - $45.00


Movements

1. DNA and the DiNO - 4:20
2. Children & Chthonian Chase - 3:50
3. Passing the paradigm - 3:33


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo/Flute I
Flute II
Oboe
English Horn
Bassoon
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone I-II
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
PAD Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Chimes
  • Conga
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Glockenspiel
  • Gong
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbals (multiple)
  • Triangle
  • Vibraphone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Previously known as A Walk in Jurassic Park, and still workable under that title, this piece represents the struggle between the intellectual and the visceral, the modern and the eternal, the cerebral and the explosively romantic. It explores many new colours while delivering a multilayered message. The work traces the Origin of the Species... and the potential for Man's ability to 'pass the paradigm'.

- Program Note from publisher


In the Beginning was inspired by the novel Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton. The work was completed on 8 March 1992, exactly one year from the premiere date of Son of the Storm, a Story in Music, which I hope you will one day come to know.

In Jurassic Park, the character, Malcolm is remarkably like the main character in Son of the Storm. He questions the paradigms constructed by those who remain unmoved by the constant miracle of life. I smiled reading those sections where Malcolm delivered his question, his concern, his frustration. This piece is, in part, from his point of view. We will take a journey from the very dawn of man, from DNA to the dinosaur, from childhood to the murky underworld of the primal jungle which calls to us, until finally we meet, face to face, the paradigm of ourselves.

In the last movement, the title Passing the Paradigm may have two meanings. It either means that the paradigm is passed on ... or it means that the paradigm is SURpassed and that a breaking out has been achieved. That I leave to you. It is in this movement that I quote those sounds which I played with and explored as a boy, 17 years ago! ... when I began my simple search for “beauty”. Those sounds have become the central “spiritual” theme of Son of the Storm ... and still later, the body of work called “Stormworks”. It is fitting, in many more ways than one, that this piece should be titled: In the Beginning.

I am honoured to have been asked to compose this work by the United States Air Force Band of Flight in Dayton, Ohio.

- Program Note by composer


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

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Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

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