Dawn at San Juan Mesa
For the Albuquerque Junior Symphony, 2222, 4331, 2 perc, timp, harp, strgs. On the CD "Enchanted Land", produced by M Mauldin and performed by the New Mexico Symphony Orchestra, with the composer conducting. 5:15 ASCAP 340379602
"This work was inspired by visits to an unexcavated Anasazi city on San Juan Mesa in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. Within view of Sandia Peak in the distance (where KHFM has its broadcasting tower), I brought my young son, Kendall, here once when my 'Petroglyph for Strings' was on the air. I mused at the irony. Before his birth, that piece had begun at that place. But now I heard the music--fleshed out--and the laughter of a child in a plaza that once rang with the laughter of many children. Often I go away with a new fragment of insight, usually into the needs of children. So years later, when I was commissioned by the Albuquerque Youth Symphony program, the magic of the mesa and its people seemed an appropriate inspiration for a piece to be performed by children.
Sound clip: https://soundcloud.com/michael-mauldin/dawn-at-san-juan-mesa-1
Review:“Michael Mauldin wrote this accessible short orchestral work for a school orchestra. It is colorful, easy to play and understand, and evocative of the land where he lives…its harmonies paradoxically dissonant yet settled.” --ANSWERS.COM
Review: "... went over very well both for the students and the audience. As for me, in addition to liking the piece, I was very happy with the 'playability' of it. As you know, it is sometimes difficult to find good music that is not an arrangement, that a youth orchestra can play really well." --Lawrence Golan, Director, Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestra
Published by Harmonic Services Group, 3604 Kearney Cove, Round Rock TX 78681
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