A View to a Death

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" TEXT="#080000" background="13cfd5a3.jpg"> <div> <A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Aaron Alon"><U><B><IMG SRC="3a27d140.png" border=0 width="125" height="20" ALT="Homepage" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></B></U></A><B>     |     </B><A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Compositions"><U><B>Recent compositions</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id163.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Breaking the Silence"><U>Breaking the Silence</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id158.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="All Rights Reserved"><U>All Rights Reserved</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id144.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Dulce et Decorum Est"><U>Dulce et Decorum Est</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fairy Tales"><U>Fairy Tales</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id101.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Hibakusha"><U>Hibakusha</U></A>   |   <B>A View to a Death</B>   |   <A HREF="id47.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Peter Pan Suite"><U>Peter Pan Suite</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id42.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Córdoba"><U>Córdoba</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id22.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spell"><U>Spell</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id24.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Spring and Fall"><U>Spring and Fall</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id25.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Fantasia for Piano"><U>Fantasia for Piano</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id26.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="The Silken Tent"><U>The Silken Tent</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#888888" TEXT="#080000" background="13dd2b03.jpg"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I><IMG SRC="3eec31b0.png" border=0 width="195" height="27" ALIGN="BOTTOM" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></I></div> <div> <B>INSTRUMENTATION</B>: Orchestra [3*:3*:3*:3 (*standard doublings), 4:3:3:1, harp, pno., timp., <A HREF="id87.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Percussion Setup"><U>3 perc.</U></A>, str.]</div> <div> <B>DURATION</B>: Ca. 11 minutes</div> <bR> <div> This work's title and content are loosely based on the chapter “A View to a Death” from William Golding's <I>Lord of the Flies</I>.  In this chapter, Simon, an innocent champion of idealism and reason, is sacrificed to the basest human instincts.  Though the scene depicted conjures a range of emotions, from tense expectation to murderous rage and finally mourning, all of these spring from a common source: human nature.  Analogously, the music is entirely built upon one thematic idea, first presented in its entirety in the marimba, doubled by cello pizzicato.  All of the pitch material, though it changes drastically in affect and extent to which it is tonally driven, is derived from this theme.  </div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Listen to Excerpts:</div> <div> Opening Excerpt (1:51)</div> <div>  <embed src="HTMLobj-1060/Excerpt_1.mp3" autostart="false" width="145" height="70">  </div> <bR> <div> Midway Excerpt (0:51)</div> <div>  <embed src="HTMLobj-1061/Excerpt_2.mp3" autostart="false" width="145" height="70">  </div> <div> <A HREF="#about_the_recording" TITLE="A View to a Death"><U>About these recordings</U></A></div> <bR> <div>  <A NAME="about_the_recording"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="1" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="1" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" ></A></div> <div> <U>About the Recordings</U></div> <div> These excerpts are of the Cleveland Institute of Music orchestra, conducted by Sean Newhouse.</div> <div> They were recorded on April 12th and 14th at the biannual orchestra readings. </div> <bR> <div> All music ©2005 Aaron Alon (ASCAP).  All rights reserved. </div> </td> </tr></table></body>