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Archangel (1987) |
for 2 ob, ca, 3 tpt (concertante group) 3 (3picc)03(bcl)3(cbn)/4301 - 20'
Everyone's angels are different.
Traditionally they are messengers - bringers of good news; guardian spirits,
stern, yet kind and wise, linking us with a higher intelligence; they are always
beautiful and they dance and sing! They represent the sublimation of many of
humankind's more desirable qualities. Whether they are indeed supernatural beings
on a different plane of existence, or archetypal figures from deep layers of
our subconscious, or perhaps totally natural energies at large in the universe
to which we ourselves give shape and form, to come face to face with an angel
would surely mark a turning-point. How could life ever be the same again?
Archangel was written for 23 wind players, the exact combination that
Stravinsky used for his Symphonies of Wind Instruments. (1947 version.) A concertante
group - the Archangel - of 3 trumpets, 2 oboes and cor anglais is placed away
from the rest of the orchestra. In the first movement, the concertante group
makes 3 attempts to enter the main music, provoking at first sounds of great
fear and outcry from the clarinets and bassoons. Eventually it is heard, exerting
a calming influence, uniting the previously restless themes of the movement
in a passage of great serenity.
Movement 2 starts with trombone and clarinet cadenzas, which the players perform
from memory, standing, and directly confronting the Archangel. When the concertante
finally enter, it is to provoke a struggle - as Jacob wrestled with the angel.
Once resolved, and after a series of slowly sinking woodwind chords, there is
a repeat of the angel's first few phrases, but it breaks off in the middle;
the vision or dream can be sustained no longer. Trombone and clarinet call,
but to no avail - the Archangel has gone. The 3 flutes, now playing their less
'earthbound' counterpart, the piccolo, try out some of the Archangel's music,
before coming together on a single note to close the work.
First performance: Greenwich
Festival, ECO Wind and Brass Ensemble, conductor David Parry