Soliloquies From A Quiet Place

by
Peter Meechan

Ensemble: Wind Orchestra

Solo Instrument: 2 Trumpets

Grade: 4

Duration: 10:00

Year of Composition: 2019

Commissioned by: Ryan Anthony, Jens Lindemann, and the University of Texas Wind Ensemble (Jerry Junkin, director)

Publisher: Peter Meechan

Year of Publication: 2019

Publisher Catalog Number: PMM150

Available: Yes

How to Acquire: Publisher, Purchase

Links:

Web Page

Sample Audio

Perusal Score 

Instrumentation

Solo B♭ Trumpets 1,2
Piccolo
Flutes 1,2
Oboe
Bassoon
B♭ Clarinets 1,2,3,4
B♭ Bass Clarinet
B♭ Contrabass Clarinet
E♭ Alto Saxes 1,2
B♭ Tenor Sax
E♭ Baritone Sax
B♭ Trumpets 1,2,3
F Horns 1,2,3,4
Trombones 1,2
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Double Bass
Piano
Percussion (4 players): Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Marimba, Suspended Cymbal

Dedicated, with enormous gratitude, to Dr. Brian Berryman.


Program Notes:

soliloquy
n.
An act of speaking one’s thoughts aloud when by oneself or regardless of any hearers.

During summer 2018 I took a vacation at a family cabin on the banks of Buffalo Pound Lake in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is a beautifully isolated location, which provides for a near perfect view of the night skies. Gradually, as your eyes adjust to the dark, more and more stars reveal themselves to you. Time seems to stop, and you can’t help reflecting in every way possible. As insignificant as viewing the heavens like this can make you feel, you also know your fleeting view is a unique moment, a moment you will never see end.

One night, having sat outside until the sun began to rise, I went back inside and wrote a short chorale at the piano. It didn’t have a place in any piece I was writing at that time but knew those few measures of reflection would find their place in a composition in the future – and it is from those few measures that Soliloquies From A Quiet Place grew. Told through the two trumpet soloists, these are my reflections and thoughts from that night and many others sat gazing in to the heavens.

(Peter Meechan)