Dark Winds Rising

The Equinox Chamber Players and Albany Records present Dark Winds Rising, featuring the music of John Lampkin, Beth Denisch and Phillip Kent Bimstein.

Liner Notes

A WALK THROUGH SHAW'S GARDEN, by John Lampkin

A Walk Through Shaw's Garden is a tone poem inspired by the beauty of the Missouri Botanical Garden, one of the oldest botanical institutions in the country and a National Historic Landmark. While not entirely programmatic in concept, different movements evoke specific images and experiences, such as the explosion of color in spring, the darting dance of dragonflies in August, and the simple majesty of the final resting place of Henry Shaw, the philanthropist who founded the 79-acre horticultural marvel. In all, the work is a tribute to the man, the Garden, and the tremendous legacy left to future generations.

The work is a series of musical snapshots bookended by a pair of fanfares:

Fanfare
Dragonflies
Orpheus, Eurydice, and the Dancers
The Butterfly and the Rose
On the Tram
Elegy
In the Frogpond
Finale

In the summer, the Garden and ponds abound with many colorful and energetic dragonflies. Orpheus, Eurydice, and the Dancers are striking statues which one encounters soon upon arrival. For those too tired to walk, the tram provides a nice alternative as it runs its route along the paved pathways. The Elegy pays homage to Henry Shaw, who is interred in the Garden. As a kid at heart, frogs are still a favorite, and who knows, perhaps a Prince awaits!

MIGRATIONS, by John Lampkin

Many species migrate, periodically moving en masse from one locale to another. The motivation to migrate is instinctive, tied to food, mating, or seasonal comfort. Sometimes the numbers are impressive, as during the single hour when 9000+ Broadwing Hawks flew over Hook Mountain, Rockland County NY. But this is nothing compared to the 120 million Red Crabs which scramble across Christmas Island in Australia! The inspiration for this work though came from my childhood, when I would peer into the waters of the Rogue River in Oregon watching the bruised and battered Steelhead Salmon battle their way upstream to miraculously find the exact spot where they were born, to mate, and then to die. That sense of awe and wonder remains today, years later as I continue to observe Nature's blessings. I am grateful to the Equinox Chamber Players for their faith and trust in my craftsmanship, and for providing the funds to enable me to turn awe and wonder into pitch and rhythm.

JORDAN AND THE DOG WOMAN, by Beth Denisch

Jordan and the Dog Woman is an instrumental suite inspired by the Jeanette Winterson novel Sexing the Cherry. Most of this novel takes place in Cromwellian England and tells the story of the Dog Woman and her adopted son, Jordan. She handles the king's hounds and Jordan sails across the world to find his true love. I have set four scenes for woodwind quintet and percussion featuring these characters and important times in their lives. The Dog Woman has a moment of quiet reflection in movement I, "The Pools at Wimbledon", as she quietly sings while watching the sunset. Jordan sets sail in movement 2, with nautical references including ship bells, foghorns, and the rolling rhythms of the ocean's great waves. Dog Woman's best friend dies in the London Plague of 1665, and movement 3, a minor blues form, screams and cries for her personal loss, the suffering of all who became sick in the plague, and the death pits, carnage carts, and the living who cared for them. Dog Woman finds solace in the following musical interlude as she tenderly places her dead friend in a special spot that is not yet suffused by fire in the mass cremation site. The gentle melody features the clarinet's low and rich chalumeau register as the other instruments provide soft harmonies. Jordan finally finds his perfect love on an isolated island where his beloved dances and teaches a magical ballet. This final movement, "Points of Light Dancing", starts with a simple melody that, as it grows and spreads, gets interrupted by dramatic "points of light dancing". The interruptions grow more prominent as the movement continues until they seem to have obliterated the melody. But by the end of the movement the melody returns in full strength and the points of light dancing are incorporated inside the melody as part of the accompaniment texture. Premiered at Missouri History Museum 2003

DARK WINDS RISING, by Phillip Kent Bimstein

"The black cloud was getting closer and closer, closer and closer" chants Vivienne Jake in Dark Winds Rising.

The black cloud feared by Vivienne was a proposed toxic waste incinerator which threatened the sanctity of her native land, the Kaibab Paiute tribe of northern Arizona. In Dark Winds Rising, the feelings and values of three generations of the Jake family are expressed in their own words and voices. Initial outrage gives way to the quiet strength of resistance, leading to a restored sense of balance and hope. "Your strength is from within," concludes Vivienne in the second movement, Walking Barefooted. Bimstein interviewed the Jakes, developed rhythms and melodies inherent in their speech patterns, and then simultaneously composed the text and score.

Bimstein composed Dark Winds Rising for the Turtle Island String Quartet on a grant from New Forms: Regional Initiative, with funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the Apache Corporation. The wind arrangement was created for Sierra Winds with funding from the Nevada State Council on the Arts

Top photo by James Visser/Visserphoto.com.

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