Enchanted Falls

wind ensemble

duration 10'00”

Enchanted Falls, for wind ensemble, was inspired by a visit to Pedernales Falls State Park in Central Texas when I proposed to my wife Amy, to whom this piece is dedicated. In composing this piece, I attempted to convey both the beauty and serenity of the Pedernales River and the excitement and anticipation of that day. 

The two musical ideas that serve as the framework for the piece are the pentatonic scale and the opening line of a song that I composed for Amy a few years earlier. The work opens with several statements of the pentatonic "river motive".  This motive gradually multiplies and assumes the role of an accompanying texture to the two primary melodies of the piece.  One of these two melodies, which is also based on the pentatonic scale, is first anticipated by woodwind fragments heard about fifteen bars into the piece. The melody as a whole is not heard until an extended English Horn solo in the middle of the work, and is used as the basis for a chorale at the climax of the piece.

The opening line of the earlier song serves two functions throughout the piece.  In the first large section of music, it is stated three times as a melody against the "river motive" texture. It also appears as a separate fanfare idea in transitional passages throughout the work. Enchanted Falls was completed in April, 2001 in Austin, TX. 

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$200.00 USD - one score (PDF), one complete set of parts (PDF)

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