Nothing Gold Can Stay

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Steven Bryant

Steven Bryant


General Info

Year: 2016
Duration: c. 8:15
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Steven Bryant
Cost: Score and Parts (digital) - $105.00   |   Score Only (digital) - $20.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe
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-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium I-II
Tuba
String Bass (optional)
Piano (optional)
Harp (optional)
Timpani
Percussion, including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Glockenspiel
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Vibraphone (optional)


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Nothing Gold Can Stay was commissioned as a surprise gift for Kevin Sedatole in honor of his first ten years at Michigan State University. His conducting students spanning that decade, led by Jamal Duncan and Armand Hall, banded together and approached me at the 2015 College Band Directors National Convention in Nashville about writing the work, and I knew immediately that I couldn’t refuse this special project, made all the more appropriate because my wife, Verena, was one of Kevin’s very first students at MSU.

The music is my deliberate attempt to write a chorale – something simple, beautiful, and familiar. The deceptive surface simplicity of Robert Frost’s poem seems to coincide with this music, particularly the paradoxical descending of dawn to day, all embodying the concept of felix culpa, or “lucky fall” – the idea that loss can bring greater good, and is in fact necessary.

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

- Robert Frost

- Program Note by composer


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Arizona State University (Tempe) Wind Symphony (Jamal Duncan, conductor) - 27 September 2023
  • University of Oklahoma (Norman) Wind Symphony (Andrew Smith, conductor) - 16 April 2023
  • University of Kentucky (Lexington) Symphony Band (Shayna Stahl, conductor) - 22 February 2023
  • Kennesaw (Ga.) State University University Band (Daniel Lee, conductor) - 28 September 2022
  • Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, Iowa) Symphonic Band (Joshua W. Neuenschwander, conductor) - 15 April 2022
  • McLennan College (Waco, Tx.) Wind Ensemble (Jon Conrad, conductor) - 8 October 2021
  • MidAmerica Nazarene University (Olathe, Ks.) Concert Band (Luke D. Johnson, conductor) – 8 March 2020
  • Hartwick College (Oneonta, N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (Andrew Pease, conductor) – 5 March 2020
  • University of Memphis (Tenn.) Wind Ensemble (Albert Nguyen, conductor) – 6 February 2020
  • Texas Tech University (Lubbock) Concert Band (Daniel Lee, conductor) – 28 October 2019
  • University of Iowa (Iowa City) Concert Band (Eric Bush, conductor) – 10 October 2019
  • Henderson State University (Arkadelphia, Ark.) Wind Ensemble (Steven M. Knight, conductor) – 8 March 2019
  • California All-State High School Symphonic Band (Frank Tracz, conductor) - 17 February 2019 (2019 CASMEC Conference, Fresno)
  • Normal (Ill.) West High School Wind Ensemble (Lisa Preston, conductor) – 14 November 2018
  • University of Arizona (Tucson) Wind Ensemble (Chad R. Nicholson, conductor) – 18 October 2018
  • Texas A&M (College Station) Wind Symphony (Timothy Rhea, conductor) – 7 October 2018
  • University of Nebraska at Omaha University Band (Joshua Kearney, conductor) – 20 April 2018
  • Ball State University (Muncie, Ind.) Wind Ensemble (Ryan Lovell, conductor) – 20 April 2018
  • Michigan State University (East Lansing) Wind Symphony (Kevin L. Sedatole, conductor) – 29 September 2016 *Premiere Performance*


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources