Golden Vistas – Full Score

Description

Golden Vistas paints an evocative portrait of the expansive American landscape, where golden hues stretch across the horizon. Composer Ruth Brittin sets up the work using river rocks and other sounds mimicking the great outdoors. A truly wonderful addition to the concert band medium.

Program Notes

“Golden Vistas” celebrates Arthur Holton, Jr.’s fifty years of teaching and service in music education. His legacy of conducting, teaching, service to the world of bands, and Clarinet performance is matched by his enthusiasm for his native “Golden State” of California. “Golden Vistas” brings musical hints of times special to Art and his wife/collaborator, Kathy Holton: trains, road trips, and hikes in Yosemite and the Sierra Nevada mountains, and changes of season and life. It playfully explores 5/4, 4/4, and 3/4 meters, with contrasting modes. You’ll hear river rocks in the Percussion, the long-long-short-long fanfare in the Brass (based on the train signal for a railroad crossing), and waterfalls and falling snow in the Woodwinds. The lyrical theme in the middle celebrates a long and loving relationship, and everyone gets exciting melodies as this theme grows into an exuberant finale.