ZADOK FANTASY for concert band (2024)

Описание: ZADOK FANTASY for concert band (2024)

Commissioned by the Merrimack High School Band (Merrimack, NH) Brendan McWalter, director

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One of the hallmarks of my style of composition is borrowing from existing material, whether that be in the public domain (in the case of this piece) or not (see my chamber piece New Carpentry, for example), and when I was approached by Brendan and asked to write a piece for his group, I knew that I was going to be taken down a similar path.

Zadok the Priest, the iconic anthem written by Handel in 1727 for the coronation of King George II, had lived rent-free in my head for the better part of a year, and over the summer of 2023, I started to develop and fool around with ideas from it. Of course, this was just a gradual, "just-for-me" sort of experiment, and I never expected the opportunity to turn those ideas into a band piece.

Zadok presents itself in a couple different ways throughout the work, beginning with the opening fanfare evoking the entrance of the choir in the original, albeit with contemporary reharmonization and elements of mixed-meter. This quickly transitions to a re-statement of this initial theme, but clearly in the key of F minor. At measure thirty-eight, the second Zadok idea is introduced in the form of a melody that takes the opening melodic line from Zadok's "B" section and using it, once again, in a minor setting.

These two ideas are constantly juxtaposed and expanded on top of each other before opening up into a literal, yet subdued statement of Handel's original chorale. All of this is tied up in a world of hi-hat driven energy and ascending arpeggios (taken straight from the opening measures of Zadok).

Brendan and I went to school together for six years, and we shared an office for two of those. This piece is for him, his students, and all those who want to listen.

(audio is the MIDI realization)

swilesmusic.com/zadok-fantasy