Austin Symphonic Band ( https://austinsymphonicband.org/ ). July 25, 2024. ASB performing Over the Moon by Frank Ticheli. [NOTE: Click 'more' to read the program notes.] Frank Ticheli, Guest Conductor. "Community in Concert" presented at the 2024 Texas Bandmasters Association Convention/Clinic, Lila Cockrell Theatre, San Antonio, TX.

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Video and Sound Production: Eddie Jennings

From the program notes written by David Cross:

Over the Moon (2023)
Frank Ticheli (b. 1958)

Program note by the composer:
Much as in the epic tales of Jules Verne's From the Earth to the Moon and George Méliès's iconic 1902 film A Trip to the Moon, I sought to take the listener on a brief musical voyage Over the Moon. At the start, the listener rides down a steep slide to the surface of the moon. At once a tango-like dance, glittery and light as silk, swims through the air. Instrumental solos appear and disappear like the characters of a story.

Suddenly the dance takes a on forbidding quality—plunger-muted growls appear as the work propels itself forward. Perhaps this is the dark side of the moon. Lines intermingle, the work lifts itself: Over the Moon, in joyful exuberance.

At the halfway mark, there is a brief respite, as if looking forward toward the peaceful blue planet: a hymn to life, to the Earth, the Moon, and towards the boundless energy of the Universe. A lone clarinet connects us to the return of the dance, reaching ever higher and brighter. A triumphant climax is suddenly quashed by a steep slide, back down to life on Earth.

Listen for:
• An unsettling but groovy shift of meter as the band goes from 8/8 (3+3+2) to 10/8 (3+3+2+2)
• A rich tapestry of instrumental colors provided by soloists and imaginative combinations of instruments.