while half asleep and dreaming
A single movement work for string orchestra.
Duration: 3’ 30”
Difficulty: 4/5 (Difficulty Rating Overview)
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String Orchestra
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LINER NOTES
Jon Burlingame (from the recording The Growing Season)
The final work, while half asleep and dreaming, was inspired by the memory of awakening from a nap on a “sun-drenched afternoon” in Milan in 1973, when the composer was nineteen. The mood soon coalesced into a poem beginning with these words:
“While half asleep and dreaming,
and sultry in the afternoon,
these ethereal sprites are ushered in,
dancing down a sun’s tail.”
The poem ends with“a figure that recalls the angel set to bar fallen mankind’s return to Eden”:
“...a solitary sentinel,
marking their passage
from our world of iron,
keeping our exile
from their world of dreams.”
Originally set for chorus, then revised for string orchestra in 2008, this short, initially propulsive and gradually more sedate piece suggests Redford as a modern-day minstrel, a storyteller who wants to speak to us via both music and words. But unlike the wandering, strumming and singing musician of an earlier era, J.A.C. Redford has the orchestra at his disposal – and, thanks to his years of work in films and television, an undeniable ability to create drama and emotion in music, provoking our imaginations as he encourages our hearts to listen.
Notes by
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while half asleep and dreaming was composed in 2013 and recorded on 25 November that year in Abbey Road Studio 1 by the London Studio Orchestra with the composer conducting. It was included as the final work on the 2016 CD The Growing Season.
Purchase while half asleep and dreaming
Instrumental Scores:
Scores and parts are delivered as PDF files. A set of parts includes permission to make the requisite copies for the ensemble.
Pricing:
String Orchestra Score - $20
String Orchestra Parts - $30