Daniel Elder - When Music Sounds (Live)
"When Music Sounds" by Daniel Elder
Music Copyright ©2016 by C.F. Peters
Recording Copyright ©2015 by Arlene Sparks
Purchase sheet music here: https://goo.gl/BnmwQ7
Commissioned by the Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts Singers to celebrate the school's 25th Anniversary and honor the 25 years of service of founding director, Arlene Graham Sparks
Live concert recording by the commissioning ensemble
Walter de la Mare’s “Music” is an ode to the transformative effect that music has on those who hear it, and this setting seeks to represent not only de la Mare’s meditations on the subject but to depict music itself as a present and tangible muse. The obbligato violin takes on this role as it spins phrases in and around the vocal lines, inspiring themes into being. With the choir as narrator and the piano setting a landscape, these three distinct roles interact dynamically and strive to create a three-dimensional version of de la Mare’s text. The balance of these roles varies throughout, taking the listener alternately inside and outside the narrator’s mind as he both experiences and contemplates the profound wonder of music.