Fantasy for Piano and Wind Symphony by Catherine Fields

Featuring the George Mason Wind Symphony Conductor: Mark Camphouse Piano: Catherine Fields Fantasy for Piano and Wind Symphony was inspired in part by the memoirs of Antoine Saint-Exupery, aviator, writer, and poet. In other parts, by various stories told by pilots and adventurous souls who I've encountered personally. The piece uses the concept of the "Fantasie"; a form which gives way to the composer's imagination, freely wandering musically and thematically, and connects it to the experience of flying. During the Romantic period, the archetype of "The Wanderer," which often went in tandem with the Fantasie, represented a person who felt a stranger wherever he went. In this piece I attempt to capture not only the exhilaration and profound beauty of soaring through the heavens, but also the loneliness that may haunt someone who is never in one place for long. A pilot must have tremendous trust in his instruments and craft. Because any of these things could fail fatally, the contemplation of life and death is also a theme in this piece. The second movement in particular evokes the unease of flying over a large body of water at night. The slow, deliberate beginning of the movement feels as though it is suspended in the air, only drifting, as an ascending motive makes gradual entrances. The ascending motive is then juxtaposed with the Lux Aeterna Gregorian chant from the Requiem Mass (played by the piano), almost like a prayer for light to scatter the strange and beckoning darkness. The low brass come in, roaring to depict the depth of the water, an abyss that looks like it could swallow you instantly. Throughout the piece there are many images and moods that I wish to leave to the listener to interpret. This is a fantasy after all. Perhaps the mind of the pilot is wandering too, yearning for some imagined home, or remembering a love from the past. One thing is for certain, though: at the end when the Lux Aeterna takes its final form as a resplendent fanfare, the light does not merely illuminate the darkness, but shatters all fear. I want thank all of my wonderful colleagues in the GMU Wind symphony for such an expressive premier performance of this work. Special thanks to my mentor, Mark Camphouse, for such incredible conducting, and all the guidance he has offered me through the process of writing this piece. 0:00-5:15 I. Departure 5:35-14:30 II. Night Flight