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CONCERT WORKS
Fanfare in Memoriam (1997)
To the memory of Willis Burnett Eggleston
5 Trumpets, 4 Horns, 2 Trombones, Bass Trombone, Euphonium, Tuba
Fanfare in Memoriam was commissioned by Steven Eggleston at the passing of his father Willis Burnett Eggleston. Composing a tribute to his memory triggered in me a desire to represent the complex duality of emotions we feel in memorializing our loved ones: deep sorrow at our own loss and thankful celebration for the joy of life (which that personıs time with us represents). The commission of a fanfare seemed a particularly appropriate idiom for commemorating the dignity of humanity, but pursuing this end led me away from the completely overt musical celebrations that marked my first collaboration with Steven Eggleston (another fanfare). Instead of full-voiced glory, at the emotional high-point the ensemble is at itıs quietestin hushed reverence as the off-stage trumpet invokes "Taps."
As it happened, at the climax of compositional activity for this work we all globally experienced the losses of September 11th. Of course, the piece for me took on quite a new meaning: composing became a vital part of my healing process. Unavoidably, then, this piece is also an homage to that tragedy. Though the piece seems to invite programmatic interpretations, I have always refrained from such conceptions. Thus the richness of personal feelings, with which the piece began for me, easily became the more universal experience of coming to grips with a global catastrophe. Paradoxically this flexibility satisfies for the more specific need to respond to sadness with an affirmation of lifeıs goodness. Art is truly a language through which we understand "that which is beyond naming."
- Boston. October, 2001.
Approximate Timing : 5:00
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