UBC Symphonic Wind Ensemble | Robert Taylor, conductor
00:00 Traveler - David Maslanka
14:35 Old American Songs - Aaron Copland (J. Patrick Raftery, tenor)
26:50 Music for Prague 1968 - Karel Husa
MOMENTmusic, the connective thread for this year’s UBC Bands concert season, reflects our shared values and priorities as artists, and is in some way our response, as performing musicians, to a time when individual expression is called into question and the collective consciousness struggles to navigate a rapidly changing world. This reflects the priority we place, as an ensemble, on the power of sharing an ever-elusive moment of complete presence together, inspired in part by the words of composer David Maslanka:
"I am writing a piece for here, for now, out of the shining energy of this time. When the moment is attended to so carefully - is stared at - then great creative energy is released, and you as an audience share in this. Indeed you complete the circle that makes the moment possible. We meet here as a community. We are individuals, but come together to be something larger. The individuals in the light on the stage become a performing ensemble and create a unified musical experience. Those of you in the dark contribute as individuals to form an audience. The two units together - light and dark - form the creative complement. Out of this comes the power to act and create as a community."
Our program is an attempt to connect to that power of community. We share with you some of the most visceral and deeply-felt music composed for winds, masterfully created and crafted by David Maslanka and Karel Husa, to whom our performance is dedicated. Complemented by the music of Aaron Copland, shared here in a newly-conceived version for chamber winds, the stories told elicit a strong connection between times past and the modern moment. And so we share this music of the moment, performed and experienced in the moment, with the full power of our communal collective presence.