As One Listens to the Rain

Daniel French

General Info

Year: 2011
Duration: c. 6:40
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Score and Parts - $95.00 | Score Only - $10.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II-III
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III

Bass Drum
Chimes
Crotales
Glockenspiel
Suspended Cymbal
Tam-Tam
Vibraphone
Wind Chimes

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

As One Listens to the Rain is a marriage of two distinct musical ideas. The first, a solitary, solemn melody, is introduced in the trumpet and cloaked in an aura of slowly shifting transparent harmonies. This idea soon gives way to flowing lines and falling gestures that invoke an image of cascading rainfall. A hymn-like interlude provides a brief respite before the return of the rain which, in this final form, spins around and over itself. A stirring and evocative work for modern winds.

The title is taken from A Tree Within (1988), a poem by Octavio Paz, which captures the same duality that is the impetus for the music.

Listen to me as one listens to the rain,
not attentive, not distracted,
light footsteps, thin drizzle,
water that is air, air that is time,
the day is still leaving,
the night has yet to arrive,
figurations of mist
at the turn of the corner,
figurations of time
at the bend in this pause,
listen to me as one listens to the rain.

Octavio Paz, A Tree Within (1988)

- Program Note by composer

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

Texas: IV. Complete

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Bi-State Honor Band Festival Cougar Honor Band (Rubén Darío Gómez, conductor) - 1 May 2022
University of Nebraska Kearney Symphonic Band (Brian Alber, conductor) - 21 April 2022
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Symphonic Band (Jerry Luckhardt, conductor) – 5 March 2019
Concordia College (Moorhead, Minn.) Symphonic Band (Nathaniel Dickey, conductor) – 19 November 2017
Lee University (Cleveland, Tenn.) Wind Ensemble (David Holsinger, conductor) – 10 April 2017
California State University, Fresno, Wind Orchestra (Gary P. Gilroy, conductor) - 20 March 2015 (2015 Sutherland Wind Festival (Fresno, Calif.)

Works for Winds by This Composer

Resources

Daniel French website.