New Morning for the World: Daybreak of Freedom

by Joseph Schwantner, tr. by Nikk Pilato

New Morning for the World: Daybreak of Freedom for Narrator and Orchestra was commissioned by the American Telephone and Telegraph Company for the Eastman Philharmonia, David Effron, conductor. It was premiered on 15 January 1983, at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., with Pittsburgh Pirates baseball star Willie Stargell narrating. Of this work, Joseph Schwantner has said: "Robert Freeman, then director of the Eastman School of Music, who hoped to initiate a project to honor the memory of Martin Luther King Jr., first proposed the genesis of the work to me, in 1981. I was excited by the opportunity to engage my work with the profound and deeply felt words of Dr. King, a man of great dignity and courage whom I had long admired. The words that I selected for the narration were garnered from a variety of Dr. King's writings, addresses, and speeches, and drawn from a period of more than a decade of his life. These words, eloquently expressed by the thrust of his oratory, bear witness to the power and nobility of Martin Luther King's ideas, principles and beliefs."

The Wind Ensemble version was transcribed by Nikk Pilato and premiered by the Florida State University Wind Orchestra on 20 April 2007, Nikk Pilato conducting and David Eccles narrating. The transcription is available for rent from Schott-Helicon Music.

Joseph Schwantner was born in Chicago, Illinois, on 22 March 1943. He is the winner of the 1979 Pulitzer Prize in Music, and is one of the most decorated and successful American composers of his time.

For a brief audio sample of highlights, please click  

Details

Catalog#: NN07-003
Duration: 24:00
Difficulty: Advanced

Instrumentation:

Piccolo I-II (doubling Flute III-IV)
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II-III
E-flat Clarinet
B-flat Clarinet I-II-III
Bass Clarinet
Contrabass Clarinet
Soprano Saxophone
Alto Sax I-II
Tenor Sax
Baritone Sax
C Trumpet I-II-III
French Horn I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III-IV
Euphonium I-II
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-V
Piano (amplified)
Celesta (amplified)
Harp
Narrator

To purchase a score or to rent performance materials, please contact Schott-Helicon Music.