Product Description
Back to School 2015
This standalone movement balances chaotic, breakneck ensemble writing with placid, luscious quieter moments. Inspired by the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation, the music vividly depicts the duality of the lion/lamb character (hence the plurality of the title), and the ample use of mixed meter and solo opportunities (particularly for flute and percussion) will offer an engaging challenge to most high school ensembles. Although this is the middle movement of a three-movement work, it works in its own self-contained world.
Contact information: johnjdorhauer@gmail.com
PRO: ASCAP
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Duration: 9 minutes
Year of Release: 2011
Program Notes: This composition is intended to function on two different levels: it is simultaneously a programmatic depiction of the events that unfold in Revelation 5 and a musical representation of the duality found in the scripture. It was this sense of duality that persuaded me to keep the "s" at the end of Revelation in the title it is as if there are multiple revelations to be found within both the scripture and my musical interpretation of it.
In the book of Revelation, the prophet John is sharing an apocalyptic vision to a group of churches in Asia as a means of hope even though these people were being persecuted for their beliefs, John promises the rapture in which God will save the believers and destroy the nonbelievers. The fifth chapter begins with Johns ascension to heaven, and it concludes just before the Christ-like Lion of Judah breaks the seals of the scroll that will unleash the rapture. While this is intended to be a message of hope, it will also bring about cataclysmic death and destruction. Herein lies the duality how can a message of hope come as the result of such a violent outcome?
Movement II (of three) corresponds with only verse 6, and it is more of a character study than a programmatic narrative. It examines the Lion of Judah character, which is portrayed at first as an overwhelming and aggressive figure after it approaches from the distance in the hazy beginning section. This character is also depicted in the scripture as a lamb, though, and this is reflected in the pieces latter half, which is a softer reimagining of the Lion characters material. The Lion and the Lamb are not two different characters but, rather, different sides of the same character. It is this duality that drives the movement, and it explains the connections between these otherwise distinct sections. This movement was originally performed by the CCPA Wind Ensemble in April 2010 when it received first place in CCPAs wind ensemble composition contest.
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