Maslanka Weekly highlights excellent performances of David Maslanka’s music from around the web.
Last Wednesday was April 1st and that normally means a few “April Fools” jokes are likely to find their way onto social media. Even though we are in the midst of a global pandemic, we here at Maslanka Weekly thought that today might be a good time to showcase some more creative arrangements of David’s Give Us This Day that we have come across. If you like what you see, be sure to click here to access last year’s crop.
Give Us This Day
From David’s 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.
Did you ever wish Give Us This Day was the soundtrack to your favorite NES Game? Watch below as this masterwork is presented in 8-Bit format.
More info
- 8BitWaffle
- Give Us This Day @ davidmaslanka.com
Have you ever wanted to hear Give Us This Day played exclusively on a Roland MT-32 keyboard? Here’s your chance!
More info
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.
