15th Night of the Moon

15TH NIGHT OF THE MOON

“Puckett should be a household word.”
Parterre Box

Live performance with Craig Morris soloist with the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, Jerry Junkin conducting.

Live performance from Miami with Craig Morris soloist with University of Miami Wind Ensemble, Gary Green conducting.

trumpet concerto with wind ensemble
23 minutes

commissioned by a consortium led by Gary Green and the University of Miami

SCORING

Trumpet soloist

Flute I-II-III
Oboe I-II
B-flat Clarinets I-II-III
Bass Clarinet
Bassoon I-II
Alto Saxophone I-II
Tenor Saxophone
Baritone Saxophone

Trumpet in B-flat I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Double Bass

Piano
Celesta

Timpani
Percussion 4 players:

1: Vibraphone (left)
2: Vibraphone (right)
3: Marimba/Tubular Bells [shared with Percussion 4]
4: Tam-Tam (at least 36”)/Large Suspended Cymbal/Tubular Bells [shared with 3]

PROGRAM NOTE

“Out on the plains on the fifteenth night of the moon, at the time of sunset, looking to the west, you see the sun at a moment just resting right on the horizon. And if you look there to the east, the moon will be in the same position on the eastern horizon … And so this also is part of the mythology of the body: the body going through its inevitable course – the long body [from birth to death].”

—Joseph Campbell from The Way of Art.

“When people sing … I enter the earth. I go in at a place like a place where people drink water. I travel a long way, very far. When I emerge, I am already climbing. I’m climbing threads, the threads that lie over there in the south. I climb one and leave it, then I climb another one. Then I leave it and climb another. . . . And when you arrive at God’s place, you make yourself small. You have become small. You come in small to God’s place. You do what you have to do there. Then you return to where everyone is, and you hide your face. You hide your face so you won’t see anything. You come and come and come and finally you enter your body again. All the people who have stayed behind are waiting for you. … You enter, enter the earth, and you return to enter the skin of your body … Then you begin to sing.”

—Joseph Campbell in The Way of the Animal Powers describing a transformational journey as told by a !KUNG bushman.

In 15th Night of the Moon, the soloist journeys deep within to find this transformation. Each movement is a projection of a line of text from the bushman’s description of his experience.

1. “When people sing … I enter the earth.”
2. “When you arrive at god’s place You make yourself small.
You come in small to god’s place. You do what you have to do there.”
3. “Then you return to where everyone is.” [cadenza]
4. “You enter the earth and you return to enter the skin of your body.”

The movements are played without pause.