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Instrumentation: violoncello + piano Duration: ~30 minutes Year of Composition: 2009 Program Note: The Paul Bunyan Suite is a seven-movement work based on the legendary American lumberjack, Paul Bunyan. Movements one, four, and seven are “time” movements, creating a musical landscape and charting the passage of an entire day in the logging camps of the upper Midwest. Movements two, three, five, and six are “character” movements, in which we meet the various players in Paul’s life—Babe the Blue Ox, his trusted companion; Lucette, his larger-than-life sweetheart; the seven axmen who accompany him in the woods rolling boulders to sharpen their tools; and, of course, Paul himself. As each new theme is introduced, it is woven into the fabric of subsequent movements, creating an interactive, living tapestry of the world of Paul Bunyan. This piece was composed for, and is dedicated to, Jesús Castro-Balbi and Gloria Lin, whose energy, creativity, and passion were crucial to the success of this project. |
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Jesús Castro-Balbi, 'cello Gloria Lin, piano |