Songs out of Sorrow is a seven-movement work for wind ensemble and soprano. The text and title come from the second chapter of American poet Sara Teasdale’s collection Love Songs. The methodical use of trichord combinations provides the primary harmonic and melodic language of the work, creating rising tension through the first four movements and subsequent resolution through the final three. Movement one, Spirit’s House, utilizes non-functional triadic harmonies with the addition of fourths and seconds. The second movement, Mastery, contains whole tone language. An instrumental interlude precedes the vocal music of the third movement, Lessons. When the soprano enters, the harmonic material of the interlude intermingles with the octatonic nature of the vocal line to create a folk music quality. Another instrumental interlude follows, utilizing a truncated and re-orchestrated version of the musical material featured in the first interlude. This leads directly into the climatic fourth movement, Wisdom, which is characterized by chromatic lines and tritones. A subdued fifth movement, In a Burying Ground, follows, undulating with a percussion ostinato, which is also a feature of the first movement. Wood Song, the sixth movement, begins with a stylized birdcall based loosely on Messiaen's transcription of the call of the wood thrush, which is referenced in opening line of the text. The harmonies of this movement contain augmented triads. The final movement, Refuge, features a return to the triadic harmonic material of the first movement, providing a sense of large-scale resolution.

This piece is five movements for Wind Ensemble. Each movement includes unaccompanied vocal introductions. I have chosen five poems by Sara Teasdale as the text for these introductions. The large ensemble then expands and comments on the themes introduced by the voice. The five Teasdale poems outline a narrative arc partially inspired by the book The Giver by Lois Lowry, but also hopefully encourage the listener to imagine their own story of how one’s view of things changes as new experiences and knowledge change the perspective.

No description available.