Chamber Music Horn octet
SKU: PR.114414550
For 8 Horns. Composed by Eric Ewazen. Sws. Contemporary. Score and parts. With Standard notation. 92 pages. Duration 20 minutes. Theodore Presser Company #114-41455. Published by Theodore Presser Company (PR.114414550).
ISBN 9781491134443. UPC: 680160598021. 9 x 12 inches.
BRIDGE OF DREAMS was inspired by four Japanese paintings of the 17th and 18th centuries, with each of the suite’s four movements named after the painting it depicts. These paintings may be seen at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as on the museum’s website. Long-esteemed for his horn ensemble works, mixed chamber music, and Concerto, Eric Ewazen celebrates the rich, mellow textures and joyous energy of the horn octet with BRIDGE OF DREAMS.
BRIDGE OF DREAMS was composed for the remarkable ensemble Tsunobue Shudan Tokyo, comprised of some of the finest orchestral and free-lance horn players in Japan. Thanks to my friend Jonathan Hammill, principal horn of the Tokyo Symphony, and member of Tsunobue Shudan, I was approached by them to write a large-scale multi-movement work for horn choir. The piece was inspired by four Japanese paintings of the Edo and Muromachi periods that are part of the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.I. “White Plum Blossoms and Moon” shows hundreds of glittering white plum blossoms glowing in the moonlight. The music, with a gracious waltz-rhythm, is rich and resonant as the plum blossoms represent the awakening of life in Spring.II. “Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove” shows the sages in a joyful celebration. They play drums and flutes, they dance, sing, and drink in this bamboo grove with townspeople gathered around, enjoying the sight. The music is cheerful and has a rhythmic momentum reflecting the beating drums and dance rhythms.III. “Standing Beauty” shows a beautiful courtesan robed in an elaborate kimono. The music is intricate and somewhat mysterious, reflecting the enigmatic and sensuous expression and gestures of this elegant standing beauty.IV. “Lions at the Stone Gate of Tendaisan” shows a mythical scene in the middle of towering cliffs. Dozens and dozens of growling lion cubs scramble up the cliffs to reach a fabled bridge at the top of the rocky gorge. Some tragically fall into roaring whitewater rapids below, as the mother lioness looks on with wonder and amazement, but also with wisdom and resignation at this life trial. The music shows this awesome journey, filled with fast rhythms and gestures reflecting the roar of the lions, the rapids, and the dramatic cliffs. But at the finale, the music becomes heroically consonant as the lion cubs reach the top and triumphantly bound across the bridge.
