I. Bold and surging II. Past singing springs III. To reach the stars
'When Mountains Rising' was inspired by the first lines of the long poem The Czars by Rainer Maria Rilke (1875‐1926): “It was in the days when the mountains were first rising upon the earth: wild trees sprang bold without design and crystal shining rivers roared forth” (my own paraphrased translation from the original German). The tenor saxophone sounds that way to me, bold, surging forth from an unseen somewhere with an energy and power that is at times primeval. When Stephen Pollock commissioned a work for tenor saxophone, these Rilke lines and images came to mind. I. Bold and surging, the drama of the emerging power of first rising mountains, sometimes awesome, sometimes benign, yet ever rising. II. Past singing springs, crystalline waters of a new born world caroling as they grow. III. To reach the stars, what else are mountains for?
- Sherwood Shaffer
Commissioned by Stephen Pollock. Movements of this work may be performed as separate concert works if the artist chooses.
So Near, So Far - Stephen Pollock (Alanna Records 2005)
Astute Music