Band Concert Band
SKU:
PR.11540431L
Composed
by Stacy Garrop. Large
Score. 64 pages. Duration
18 minutes. Theodore
Presser Company
#115-40431L. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.11540431L).
UPC:
680160689767.
The
first time I saw an
alpenglow, I had no idea
what it was. It was the
late 1980s, and I was at
a music camp at the base
of theRocky Mountain
National Park in
Colorado. A few of us got
up in the middle of the
night so we could hike to
a vantage pointat the
foot of Longs Peak, to
watch the sun rise
without any trees
obstructing our view.
Even though we had a few
moreminutes to go before
the sun breached the
horizon, when I looked up
at the face of Longs
Peak, it was glowing
intensely with amost
beautiful peach-pink
color. This enchanting
vision lasted only about
ten minutes, after which
the color faded as the
sunrose. Throughout the
next thirty years,
whenever I returned to
the Rocky Mountain
National Park, I would
occasionally catchthis
pre-dawn light show in
all its glory.An
alpenglow is an optical
phenomenon that is
visible on high altitude
mountains. It happens
twice daily, right before
the sunrises and right
after it sets. The
earth’s atmosphere
scatters the sun’s
light, allowing
particular wavelengths of
light through
andblanketing the
mountains in rich hues of
peach, pink, red, and
purple.Alpenglow opens
with First Light. This
movement begins in the
pre-dawn hour. The music
starts simply and slowly,
thengrows increasingly
animated as the sky
lightens and the horizon
shimmers with color. The
movement explodes in a
massiveflurry of activity
when the sun crosses the
horizon; this energy
eventually fades as the
sun rises in the sky. In
Arc of the Sun,we follow
the sun as it
energetically leaps and
surges upwards in the
sky. The music moves
steadily upwards as it
keeps pacewith the
sun’s progress,
then crests as the sun
reaches its zenith. As
the sun bends back down
towards the earth, the
musicfollows suit,
getting lower in range
and slower as the sun
nears the horizon. In
Radiant Glow, the sun
slips under the
horizon,giving way to a
most radiant alpenglow.
As the alpenglow fades
and twilight envelops the
earth, stars shimmer in
the nightsky.-S.G.