Coranach for Julissa
(2006) 12 min.
concert band
Premiere
Premiered April 26, 2006
Pomona College Band, Graydon Beeks, conductor
Bridges Hall of Music, Claremont, California
Performers
Graydon Beeks, conductor, Pomona College Band
Piccolo: Rebecca Parmer.
Flute: Emily Barkley-Levenson, Mieko Kikuchi, Rebecca Parmer.
Oboe: Emily Gable, Jennifer Mitchell, Alma Zook.
English Horn: Alma Zook.
E-flat |Clarinet: Linda Gall Silva.
B-flat Clarinet: Ylissa Aquino, Camille Frazier, Joshua Kao, James Kato, Andrew Lytle, Lucie McGee, Michael Reed, Linda Gall Silva, Steven Von der Porten.
Alto Clarinet: Andrea Cohen.
Bass Clarinet: Kathryn Poindexter.
Bassoon: Sandra Fenton, John Guiderelli, Hollie Lohff.
Alto Saxophone: Zachary Brown, Alana Mori.
Tenor Saxophone: John Seery.
Baritone Saxophone: Mark Junod.
Trumpet: Devon Lafferty, Michael Martin, Christine Moore, Michael Pugh.
Horn: Janeen Apodaca, Susan Helfter, Donald Lawrence, Val Olson.
Trombone: Raymond Fenton, Brendan McCollam, John Sandhagen.
Euphonium: Ricky White.
Tuba: Stephen Klein.
Percussion: Trevor Adams, Jeff Fortner, Jason Goodman, Kris Mettala.
Audio
Instrumentation
Picc, 2 Fl, 2 Ob, 3 Cl in Bb, Alto Cl in Eb, Bass Clarinet in Bb, Contrabass Clarinet in Bb, 2 Bsn, 2 Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Bari Sax, 3 Trp in Bb, 4 Hn, 3 Trb, Euphonium, 2 Tubas, Percussion (4 players): Triangle, 2 Cymbals, Timpani, Xylophone
Notes
A coranach is an Irish funeral cry, or keening. It is a lamentation for the dead, more a shriek than a moan.
In November 2005, Pomona College student Julissa Alvarez died in an automobile accident. She was a clarinetist in the Pomona College Band, and Director Graydon Beeks asked for a short piece in her memory.
Although I never met her, the tragedy of the sudden passing of one so young was deeply affecting. What I thought might be a short and quiet elegy quickly evolved into something else. The piece opens with a solo clarinet hovering over the murmuring of the section clarinets. It is soon overwhelmed by rising scales in the winds, which wail to the top of their range. Subsequent moments of peace unexpectedly bloom into cries of rage. Throughout the piece, upwelling grief and anger battle with warm and consoling recollections, which lead finally to a tentative acceptance. The piece ends with the hovering and murmuring clarinets from the beginning, the solo lingering in quiet consolation.
Coranach for Julissa is dedicated to Graydon Beeks and the Pomona College Band, in memory of Julissa Alvarez.
×