Gaian Visions
General Info
Year: 1990 / 1996
Duration: 9:30
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Manhattan Beach Music
Cost: Score and Parts - $200.00 / Score Only - $25.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
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-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani (also plays Vibraslap)
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crotale (pitched D#)
- Cymbal (suspended)
- Glockenspiel
- Slapstick
- Snare Drum
- Tam-Tam
- Tambourine
- Tom-Toms
- Vibraphone
- Woodblocks
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Inspired by the natural beauty of my immediate surroundings and by my concerns about the environmental future of our planet, I composed Gaian Visions in July of 1990 during a residency at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. The title of the work refers to Gaia, the Earth goddess of ancient Greece, and to British scientist James Lovelock's Gaian hypothesis, which holds that the earth is a living, self-regulating organism that is capable of annihilating anything it perceives to be a threat, including the environmentally-destructive human race itself.
The work is in three movements:
I - Forgotten Forests. This section depicts the imposing grandeur of Gaia.
A whirling, animated texture, representing the timelessness of nature, is created by the juxtaposition of independent rhythmic layers. The layers, in order of descending importance, are:
1 - a half-note ostinato in the third clarinets and vibraphone;
2 - a quarter-note ostinato in the piccolo, xylophone, and glockenspiel;
3 - a constant flow of undulating eighth-note chords in the saxophones and horns;
4 - a series of triplet arpeggios in the first and second clarinets; and
5 - a profusion of busy sixteenth-note scalar passages in the flutes.
On top of this conglomerate, the brasses engage in a rapid interchange of short, fleeting gestures that emerge to the foreground, then quickly recede. The tension mounts, unleashing a climactic succession of open brass sonorities (beginning in measure 71). The movement ends with hints of a bird, a frog, distant thunder.
II - Desecration. This section depicts the environmental plagues of modern society.
Relentless rhythms and wild, tonally ambiguous harmonies function as the primary driving forces. A rapid three-note call is the main melodic idea. The dramatic climax of the movement occurs when the open brass theme from the first movement (representing Gaia) returns in conflict with the material of the second movement. The movement ends in an unresolved explosion of sound.
(There is no pause between movements II and III.)
III - Redemption. This section depicts a hope-filled prayer to Gaia.
The main melody is first stated by the oboe, then passed throughout the ensemble in several keys, accompanied by a pair of lower lines which ascend deliberately by step over a period of twenty-one bars. The goal of this rising texture is articulated by a final impassioned statement of the melody. A brief coda follows, alluding to the material from the first movement. The ending is unresolved, an unanswered question.
Gaian Visions was commissioned by the Gamma Phi Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi, in honor of Dr. Donald E. Bowen, fifth president of Stephen F. Austin State University. On February 22, 1991, the world premiere of GGaian Visions was given by the Stephen F. Austin State University Symphonic Band, John Whitwell, conductor, in Kansas City, Missouri, at the 50th-anniversary convention of the College Band Directors National Association.
- Program Note by Frank Ticheli
Media
- Audio: MOV File
- Audio CD: Michigan State University Wind Symphony (John Whitwell, conductor).
State Ratings
- Florida: VI
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Pacific Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Coquitlam, B.C.) (David Branter, conductor) - 9 June 2018
- State University of New York, Potsdam, Symphonic Band (Brian K. Doyle, conductor) - 19 April 2018
- Stephen F. Austin University (Nacogdoches, Tex.) Wind Symphony (David Campo, conductor)– 7 February 2017
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- Amazing Grace (Adaptable Band) (1994/2021)
- Cajun Folk Songs: Belle (Adaptable Band) (1991/2002/2020)
- Dance (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Earth Song (Adaptable Band) (2012/2020)
- Here Take This Lovely Flower (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- In C-Dorian (Adaptable Band) (2020)
- In Yonder Valley (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Joy (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Loch Lomond (Adaptable Band) (arr. Ambrose) (2002/2020)
- Moving On (Adaptable Band) (2021)
- Moving On. See also: Suite Treats
- Portrait of a Clown (Adaptable Band) (1988/2020)
- Simple Gifts (four movements) (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Simple Gifts (one movement) (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Vesuvius (Adaptable Band) (1999/2020)
All Wind Works
- Abracadabra (2005)
- Acadiana (2016)
- Amazing Grace (Ticheli) (1994)
- Amazing Grace (Adaptable Band) (1994/2021)
- Amen! (2009)
- An American Elegy (2000)
- Angels in the Architecture (2009)
- Angels Rising (2023)
- Apollo Unleashed. See: Symphony No. 2
- Ave Maria (as arranger) (1825/2004)
- BASH (2021)
- Belle. See: Cajun Folk Songs: Belle
- Blue Shades (1996)
- Boundless River (2020)
- Cajun Folk Songs: Belle (Adaptable Band) (1991/2002/2020)
- Cajun Folk Songs, Part One (1990)
- Cajun Folk Songs, Part Two (1997)
- Concertino for Trombone (1984/1987)
- Concertino for Trombone, Two Pianos and Percussion (1984/2007)
- Concerto for Alto Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (2014)
- Concerto for Clarinet and Wind Ensemble (2010)
- Concerto for Trumpet (1990/2021)
- Dance. See: Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs
- Dancing on Water (2015)
- December Snow (2015)
- Earth Song (Adaptable Band) (2012/2020)
- Earth Song for Band (2012)
- Fantastic Dreams (2023)
- First Light (2013)
- Fortress (1988)
- Gaian Visions (1990)
- Ghost Tale (2020)
- Here Take This Lovely Flower. See: Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs
- In C-Dorian (Adaptable Band) (2020)
- In Yonder Valley. See: Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs
- Joy (2005)
- Joy (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Joy Revisited (2005)
- Korean Folksongs from Jeju Island (2013)
- Life-Stream (2022)
- Loch Lomond (2002)
- Loch Lomond (Adaptable Band) (arr. Ambrose) (2002/2020)
- Lux Perpetua (2020)
- Midnight in Nairobi (2019)
- Midnight (2019)
- Moving On (Adaptable Band) (2021)
- Moving On. See also: Suite Treats
- Music for Winds and Percussion (withdrawn)
- Nitro (2006)
- Over the Moon (2023)
- Pacific Fanfare (1994/2002)
- Peace (2015)
- Portrait of a Clown (Adaptable Band) (1988/2020)
- Portrait of a Clown (1988)
- Postcard (1991)
- Rest (2011)
- Sailing the Sky (2021)
- San Antonio Dances (2010)
- Sanctuary (2006)
- Serenade for Kristin (2018)
- A Shaker Gift Song. See:Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs
- Shenandoah (1999)
- Silver Lining (2017)
- Simple Gifts (four movements) (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- In Yonder Valley (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Dance (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Here Take This Lovely Flower (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Simple Gifts (one movement) (Adaptable Band) (2002/2020)
- Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs (2002)
- A Shaker Gift Song (2004)
- Songs of Love and Life (2012)
- Sun Dance (1997)
- Symphony No. 1 (tr. Green) (2001/2011)
- Symphony No. 2 (2004)
- The Tyger (2008)
- Under the Big Top (2019)
- Vesuvius (1999)
- Vesuvius (Adaptable Band) (1999/2020)
- Wild Nights! (2007)
Resources
- Frank Ticheli website Accessed 6 July 2020