Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web.
Each December, Maslanka Weekly will feature the best performances of David’s most popular works that were uploaded to the web that calendar year. This December, we will feature the best performances uploaded to the web in 2018, highlighting a different work each week. We begin this week by showcasing five extraordinary performances of Give Us This Day from 2018.
Give Us This Day
From David Maslanka’s original Program Note:
The words “Give us this day” are, of course, from the Lord’s Prayer, but the inspiration for this music is Buddhist. I have recently read a book by the Vietnamese Bhuddist monk Thich Nhat Hahn (pronounced “Tick Nat Hahn”) entitled For a Future to be Possible. His premise is that a future for the planet is only possible if individuals become deeply mindful of themselves, deeply connected to who they really are. While this is not a new idea, and something that is an ongoing struggle for everyone, in my estimation it is the issue for world peace. For me, writing music, and working with people to perform music, are two of those points of deep mindfulness.
Music makes the connection to reality, and by reality I mean a true awakeness and awareness. Give Us This Day gives us this very moment of awakeness and awareness so that we can build a future in the face of a most dangerous and difficult time.
I chose the subtitle, “Short Symphony for Wind Ensemble,” because the music is not programmatic in nature. It has a full-blown symphonic character, even though there are only two movements. The music of the slower first movement is deeply searching, while that of the highly energized second movement is at times both joyful and sternly sober. The piece ends with a modal setting of the choral melody “Vater Unser in Himmelreich” (Our Father in Heaven) – No. 110 from the 371 four-part chorales by Johann Sebastian Bach.
Watch below as Felix Hauswirth leads Banda Sinfónica do Exército in a performance from February 22, 2018.
More info
Watch below as Filarmónica Gafanhense gives a performance from October of 2018.
More info
Watch below as David Roth leads the Kell High School Wind Ensemble in a performance from March 15, 2018.
More info
Watch below as Evan Feldman leads the Triangle Wind Ensemble in a performance from April 14, 2018.
More info
Watch below as Wang Dengmei leads the Tsinghua University Symphonic Band in a performance from the 2018 Beijing College Students Music Festival.
More info
For more information on Give Us This Day, please visit Give Us This Day @ davidmaslanka.com
We would love to hear from you! If you know of any outstanding performances of David Maslanka’s music on the web, please email us at maslankaweekly@maslanka.org.
