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Rosewood Dreaming is featured on the CD, “Lullaby”.
Rosewood Dreaming was composed between October 1996 and December 1997 for Leigh Howard Stevens, to whom the composition is dedicated. A single-movement work was originally commissioned by Mr. Stevens and Texas Christian University for a premier performance with the T.C.U. Percussion Ensemble on April 22, 1997. It was scored for marimba soloist and an ensemble of five percussionists, performing on two marimbas, a vibraphone, six tuned tom toms, two suspended cymbals, and a glockenspiel. That movement became the third movement in an expanded three-point concerto premiered by Mr. Stevens and NEXUS at the United States Military Academy at West Point on March 27, 1998.
The composition is constructed around three principal elements: 1) harmonic progressions of minor triads determined by a “pivot” system in which a pivotal note is selected from the active triad to be shared by the following minor triad; 2) solo and ensemble combinations of short, cyclic phrase-patterns which provide an underlying field of motion; and 3) overlying melodic lines which are presented by both the soloist and the percussion ensemble. In this recording, Mr. Stevens performs his own original cadenza in the second movement.
The title was derived from a vaguely perceived assocation between two seemingly unconnected words. Rosewood is the natural material from which marimba bars – with their warm and resonant tones – are made. Dreaming is a state of being in which thoughts and images pass freely through the mind, sometimes following a logical, orderly flow and sometimes making illogical connections. Anything may seem possible in this state of being. meanings are personal and are ultimately drawn from one’s own reflection. Words from a familiar children’s song are also appropriate… “life is but a dream.”
