For Those Who Wait

This piece is scored to be playable by high school bands, but is complex enough in concept and execution to be interesting to higher level university or professional bands. The commission was led by Pacific Lutheran University's Ed Powell, who asked for a slow movement of 8-10 minutes, based upon O Sacred Head Now Wounded. I chose to make it a meditation upon the anxieties experienced by those waiting at home for loved one far away in harm's way. The piece builds through transformed fragments of the chorale to a high point of expressionist intensity- Bach's most chromatic setting as found in the Saint Matthew Passion, but with an added line of counterpoint. The piece calls for a lot of soloistic playing and a quartet of saxophones.

Here is a link to a video of a performance at Pacific Lutheran University. The introduction by conductor Edwin Powell begins at 8'09".