Medium Difficult
Solo 5-octave Marimba
4-mallet
Duration ca. 8:30
PROGRAM NOTES
The Ones Who Helped to Set the Sun is a solo marimba work that was composed in the summer of 2005 for marimbist Brenton Dunnington. It is a solo concert piece composed in the virtuoso tradition. The concert piece is the first in a set of six rhapsodies for solo marimba.
The work is composed in a tonal and improvisatory manner. Many intricate techniques are employed by the soloist, including the use of 6 mallets in the opening section. The work calls for immense technical and music prowess and demands great endurance from the soloist. This results in a grand show piece to be enjoyed by all.
Titled The Ones Who Helped to Set the Sun, it is written in the old-fashioned style of bravura fantasy, where a slow section – which commonly contains nothing of the theme that is to come – is followed by a cadenza. A theme and variations follows with a pseudo-orchestral ritornelli and concludes with a grand coda.
The Ones Who Helped to Set the Sun is dedicated to Paul Watkins and all who helped through his final days.
ABOUT THE COMPOSER
Award-winning composer Noah D. Taylor (b. 1982) is an exciting and versatile young talent noted as having an “extraordinary gift” and a “grand compositional voice with an immense melodic range.” At 16, Taylor had his first symphonic band works premiered. Merely eight years later, his concert works have become internationally published and performed. His Concerto No. 1 in D Minor for marimba and orchestra was premiered at Capital University in 2005. Since its debut, this concerto has been nationally recognized and performed. Taylor was recently featured at The University of Minnesota’s Percussion Extravaganza. There, his work The Hunt for marimba and percussion ensemble was premiered along with a performance of his marimba concerto.
Taylor’s prolific work for symphonic band has also become celebrated. His piece Condition Red has been widely performed at music conservatories around the nation, with feature performances at the 2005 College Band Directors National Association Convention in Cincinnati, OH; Kansas State University, Capital University and Ball State University. Most recently, Taylor was awarded first prize in the 2005 North American Student Composer Competition, sponsored by the Boston Metropolitan Wind Symphony, who has commissioned him to write a new work.
Taylor graduated with a master of music in music composition from Bowling Green State University and a bachelor of music in music composition from the Capital University Conservatory of Music. He has studied with influential composers, ranging from James Swearingen, Rock Reuter, and Barry Kopetz to Marilyn Shrude, Burton Beerman and Elainie Lillios.
