Wonderful Day, A
Subtitle: For amplified ensemble and pre-recorded audio
General Info
Year: 2013
Duration: c. 5:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - £12.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
B-flat Bass Clarinet
Electric Guitar
Contrabass
Piano
Percussion, including:
- Vibraphone
Cello
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
On a chilly autumn evening, I was walking down Chicago's Magnificent Mile. In front of me, an elderly man was slowly strolling; his walking-cane tapping on the concrete with each step. He was singing with a raw, slow voice which had an immediate sense of both joy and struggle. I scurried up, and asked if he'd mind me recording him. He said yes, and we continued to walk southward as he sang. Then he stopped and we chatted a little. I asked him his name and whether he'd mind me setting his voice to music. Willie Barbee's face lit up with the idea.
A Wonderful Day sets Willie's voice -- spoken and sung -- with the instruments of the Bang on a Can All-Stars who provide a gentle bed of sound. My editing of the original recordings is minimal so as to preserve the directness of Willie's voice and the surrounding sounds of traffic, people chatting and the tapping of his cane.
A Wonderful Day is the first in a collection of short electro-acoustic works titled Chicago Street Portraits, which combine recordings of local street musicians with live instrumental ensembles.
- Program Note by composer
Commissioned for the Bang on a Can All-Stars. Premiered in New York, March 2013. The audio track consists of an impromptu field recording of the voice of Chicago resident Wooly Barbee.
- Program Note from score
Commercial Discography
- Audio CD: Bang on a Can Al-Stars - 2015
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Oregon (Eugene) Wind Ensemble (Dennis Llanás, conductor) - 16 November 2023
- University of Oregon (Eugene) Wind Ensemble (Dennis Llanás, conductor) – 12 February 2020
- Bang on a Can All-Stars 13 May 2015
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Masquerade (tr. Llinás) (2013/2018)
- Overflow (2020)
- A Wonderful Day (2013)
Resources
- Anna Clyne website Accessed 12 February 2020
- Clyne, A. [2017]. A Wonderful day : for amplified ensemble and pre-recorded audio (2012) [score]. Boosey & Hawkes: New York.