Waves Towards the Pebbled Shore

by
Peter Meechan

Ensemble: Wind Orchestra

Grade: 5

Duration: 06:15

Year of Composition: 2018

Commissioned by: Ray Cramer, Terry Austin, and the Musashino Wind Ensemble

Publisher: Peter Meechan

Year of Publication: 2018

Publisher Catalog Number: PMM145

Available: Yes

How to Acquire: Publisher, Purchase

Links:

Web Page

Sample Audio

Perusal Score 

Instrumentation

Piccolo
Flutes 1,2
Oboes 1,2
Bassoons 1,2
Contrabassoon (opt.)
B♭ Clarinets 1,2,3,4
B♭ Bass Clarinet
B♭ Contrabass Clarinet (opt.)
E♭ Alto Saxes 1,2
B♭ Tenor Sax
E♭ Baritone Sax
B♭ Trumpets 1,2,3,4
F Horns 1,2,3,4
Trombones 1,2
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Double Bass
Piano
Harp (or Piano)
Percussion (5 players): Glockenspiel, Vibraphone, Marimba, Suspended Cymbal, Bass Drum

Dedicated to Terry and Tracia Austin.


Program Notes:


Like as the waves make towards the pebbled shore,
So do our minutes hasten to their end;
Each changing place with that which goes before,
In sequent toil all forwards do contend.

– Shakespeare’s opening lines from Sonnet 60

I began writing this piece in the days after saying goodbye to a sick friend, and the truth was that I left not knowing if I would ever see them again. The five-hour journey home provided me with lots of time to think, and my mind kept being drawn back to the opening lines of Shakespeare’s Sonnet 60 (which I had previously read when searching for texts for a four-movement choral work commissioned to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death). This sonnet as a whole deals with time (and, perhaps the cruelty of the limits that time places on us), and in the opening four lines in particular, I found it to be meditative, reflective, tranquil, philosophical, instructional and visual. It is in these opening lines that I found the music for Waves Towards the Pebbled Shore.

(Peter Meechan)