henningmusick: Moonrise (afterglow)

henningmusick: Moonrise: I had written [...] several "functional" pieces for brass quintet (or brass quintet plus) for use in various services.  While I enjoy the challenge of writing for a specific occasion (and appreciate the opportunity to furnish music for specific use), after a while I wanted to write a concert piece for brass quintet, which did not need to fulfill any purpose other than sounding as I wish it to sound.

Not coincidentally, as I read this introductory paragraph for my program notes for Moonrise, this more or less tells the tale:  All the short "functional" pieces were performed immediately.  Moonrise has waited 10 years for its first performance.

It proved a hard sell even for the quintet for whom I initially wrote it.  We six got together for a reading (and, dadgummit, they could have recorded that reading, but for whatever reason{s} tape was not running).  On the whole, there was positive response ... and yet, though they had a full slate of tour dates, their regular fare was arrangements of Renaissance polyphony and of Gershwin (not saying a word against either), and they didn't see how they could fit Moonrise in.

So, not at all an unusual story:  Wrote a good piece, knew it for a good piece, was never going to modify what was already a good piece ... but a piece which had to wait for both (a) a group who saw the music's merits and (b) the right venue.

Who: the MidTown Brass Quintet
Where: Norton Arts Center, 781 No. Central Avenue, Hapeville, Georgia 30354*
When:  Sat, 24 January 2015, 20:00

* Not pictured below