A Day in the Forest of Dreams - WW5/PN

1. First Glimpses of Sunlight

2. Afternoon Dance

Since the sound of the woodwind quintet conjures up in my mind the sound of nature, I wanted to composer a piece based on a program that had to do with an enchanted forest. I chose two different times of a beautiful forest and musically illustrated what might be going on at these times. In that sense, the piece is programmatic. 

First Glimpses of Sunlight has a brief introductory passage, a kind of pronouncement of the arrival of sunlight. This is followed by a series of repeated D's in the piano with the woodwinds darting in and out with arpeggios and other melodic material. After this section reaches its climax, another theme is introduced and developed. Sections of this movement are impressionistic in terms of harmony and the avoidance of rigid architecture. The entire movement is written as a free form fantasy which progresses from the first glimpse of sunlight to the full manifestation of day.

Afternoon Dance is a scherzo in sonata-allegro form. After a brief piano introduction, the syncopated first theme is followed by a more lyrical second theme. The development utilizes fragments of the first theme along with new material. This movement has many shifts of meter, rhythmic syncopation and highly contrapuntal sections. These elements combine to elicit a feeling of perpetual motion, making the movement have a dance-like quality.