A Solemn Place
for wind ensemble
University of Georgia Wind Ensemble
Program Note – A Solemn Place
For as long as I can remember I’ve been involved in choral music. As a young student I spent countless hours singing, rehearsing, accompanying, and conducting choirs. The lasting impact this had on my music cannot be overstated; so much of the way I compose is from the vantage point of the singer.
Equally important to my musical upbringing, particularly in high school and in my early college years, is the time I spent immersed with wind ensembles. Some of my earliest compositions were written for my high school band.
The result is that I internalized a significant portion of the choral and band literature from a young age. In many ways, A Solemn Place is the converging of these two worlds at their greatest common denominator: breath.
In January 2013 I completed O Magnum Mysterium, an unaccompanied choral work, commissioned by my friend and long-time supporter Robert Gehrenbeck for his Whitewater Chamber Singers at the University of Wisconsin. At the suggestion of John Lynch, to whom I owe much, I transcribed this choral piece for wind ensemble. A Solemn Place received its world premiere on October 31, 2013 by the Sydney Conservatorium Wind Symphony under John’s direction.
As with much of my music, a seamless quality permeates the work. Though the harmony alternates between passages of tonal stability and those of transition, there is no pause, no complete cadence, for the four minutes of the piece. While the music begins mysteriously and ends triumphant, it is the exploration between these two destinations that I find compelling. To experience this piece is to be continuously in the moment, not completely aware of what lies ahead or where the piece may lead, until the final chord.
Though A Solemn Place and the initial choral work on which it is based do not share the same title, the contemplative, spiritual nature is preserved in the wind band adaptation. Both versions are dedicated to a great teacher and friend, Mary Anthony Cox.
Wayne Oquin
October 31, 2013
Sydney, Australia