Walk the Earth for large symphony orchestra

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Date

2014-05

Authors

Rumsey, Brandon Scott

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Abstract

Walk the Earth is about the unexpected discoveries one may find when taking the road less traveled. My music is often autobiographical, drawing from a deep interest in connections between the natural world and human experience, and this piece is an anthem to the detours that have steered my life in unforeseeable, yet exciting, directions. Walk the Earth opens with two contrasting ideas: a declamatory fanfare followed by a passage of kaleidoscopic orchestral texture. These two ideas pervade the work, sometimes converging and sometimes at odds. From the beginning, the fanfare motive is a spark that gradually spreads through each new section, and at the piece's final peak, bursts into an energetic frenzy. I set out to compose an overture that can act as an ecstatic concert opener, but rather than ending with a grandiose flourish, Walk the Earth closes with a pensive mantra composed of ticking pizzicato strings and swaying harmonies. The title is adapted from a line from Quentin Tarantino's 1994 masterpiece, Pulp Fiction. Jules Winfield, a gangster with deep-rooted spiritual hindrances, decides to give up a life of crime for a peripatetic, righteous life. When Vincent Vega, his skeptical partner, questions this decision, Jules explains that he will simply “meet people” and “get into adventures.” The performance time of this work is approximately 9 minutes and 30 seconds.

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