Away (A Fantasy on ‘Shenandoah’)

Description

Leisner’s Away for flute and guitar is a fantasy based on Shenandoah. This one-movement work, in eight sections, is imagined as a musical journey down a wide river.

It begins slowly, in contemplation of the patterns of ‘Currents’ in the water, slows down to consider the effect of ‘Concentric ripples,’ increases in speed and activity in a ‘Rolling river’ passage and even more in ‘Rapids,’ arrives at a Waterfall’ – the loudest and fastest section, with rapid cascades of descending notes – passes through ‘Calming Waters,’ pauses in a quiet canyon (‘Canyon Echoes’) where the theme is finally played in its entirety by the flute (marked ‘ardent and alone in a vast space’), while the guitar provides the echoes, and finally comes to rest in ‘Still Waters.’

For advanced players.

Additional information