Symphony No. 5

Description

Symphony No. 5

For solo tenor, SATB chorus, and symphonic wind ensemble
Duration: 28′

Instrumentation:
piccolo
flute 1-3* (flute 3 doubles on alto flute) (note: 2 players per part is recommended)
oboe 1-2
English horn
Eb clarinet
Bb clarinet 1-3* (note: 2 players per Bb clarinet part is recommended)
Bass clarinet
Contrabass clarinet
bassoon 1-2
contrabassoon

soprano saxophone
alto saxophone 1-2
tenor saxophone
baritone saxophone

French horn 1-6
C trumpet 1-5 (Trumpet 1 doubles on Bb flugelhorn)
trombone 1-3
bass trombone
euphonium 1-2
tuba 1-2
Double bass (doubles on Electric bass)
piano
harp
timpani + 6 percussion
percussion instruments needed:
percussion 1: crotales, bass drum, xylophone, glockenspiel, vibes
percussion 2: marimba, crotales
percussion 3: vibes, snare drum (1), tambourine, glockenspiel, crash cym., sus. cym., wood block, triangle, floor tom, chimes
percussion 4: vibes (bowed), snare drum (2), tambourine, chimes, sus cym., crash cym., cabasa, triangle, drum set, glockenspiel, wood block
percussion 5: crotale (bowed), sus. cym., snare drum (3), wood block, triangle, hi-hat, tambourine,

SOLO TENOR voice
SATB chorus

TEXT use:
Movement 2 Tenor solo, words from Walt Whitman’s “Song of the open road”:

Afoot and lighthearted, I take to the open road,
Healthy, free, the world before me,
The long brown path before me, leading wherever I choose.

Movement 4 SATB chorus, words by James M. Stephenson and Emily Dickinson, excerpt from “Hope is the thing with feathers”:

I breathe, I hope, I love. (Stephenson)

(hope) … and sing(s) the tune without the words —
and never stop(s) — at all. (Dickinson)

Program Notes, by the composer:

Symphony No. 5 is a journey of exploration, inward: a journey starting at one’s unsure beginnings, optimistically progressing toward adolescence and early adult years (“the long path before me”), and advancing toward one’s life of maturation, when experience and wisdom act as an ever-present guide. Though I by no means claim that the maturing process is over, I endeavored in this symphony to mark the place in life where I stand now, where (for me) the greatest of all things is love.

I most sincerely thank director Bobby Francis and TCU for granting me the opportunity to go on this journey of exploration, encouraging me to “not hold back”; and for the efforts undertaken by all involved so that we might share it.

— Jim Stephenson; November 30, 2024