Description
Kallman Creates Publications
Wind ensemble. Duration: 7’30”
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(2015 Luther College Concert Band, Luther College, Decorah, IA; Joan deAlbuquerque conducting)
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(Luther College Concert Band, Luther College, Decorah, IA; Joan deAlbuquerque conducting)
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Composer’s Program Notes
I was contacted in 2014 by Dick Quast with an offer of a commission from his Luther class of 1965 in honor of their 50th class reunion. The new work was to be written for the Luther College Concert Band and based on one or more hymns of my choosing. I was honored and delighted to accept this opportunity to compose for my alma mater and for the ensemble in which Dick was a trumpeter in the ’60s and I a trombonist in the ’70s.
The Promise of Grace is based on two contrasting hymn tunes which I have known and loved since my youth. Each hymn was originally published in The Sacred Harp (1844), a collection of early American hymns popular with congregations of New England and the Southern U.S. throughout the 19th century. Many of these hymns are still sung widely in congregations today. The composition is a single movement work structured as a free set of theme and variations. The first tune stated is the vibrant and confident Holy Manna. I have known it most of my life by its original text “Brethren, We Have Met Together” (William Moore, 1829). The second melody is the meditative and tender Beach Spring, most often sung today with the more recent text “Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service” (Albert Bayly, 1961). The title of my composition was inspired by the Sacred Harp texts for these melodies which emphasize themes of grace.
