REMEMBRANCES

Composed: 1996
written for the Roanoke Symphony, dedicated to Robert Stewart
Premiere:  Roanoke Symphony, Yong-Yan Hu, guest conductor, Roanoke, VA, March 18, 1996
Duration:  14 minutes
Instrumentation: 2 (2nd picc.) 2 EH 2 2(2nd cbsn.); 4331; timp., 2 perc., hp., strings

PROGRAM NOTES

This tone poem is an elegy and a tribute to Robert Stewart who was a musician, composer, sailor and loved one.  Beginning with an expression of grief and sorrow, the music evolves into a musical portrait, full of warm memories, love and admiration, and images of sailing.  Typical of elegies and tone poems, such as "Death and Transfiguration" by Strauss, it ends in a spirit of consolation and hope.

REVIEWS

"...Next was RSO Composer- in-Residence Margaret Brouwer's lovely tone poem "Remembrances."  This was Brouwer at her best: lyrical, accessible, powerful and deeply moving.  I have heard a number of Brouwer's works in several venues, and "Remembrances" made the best impression by a long shot.  If more contemporary composers would write like Brouwer in this vein, the uneasy armed truce between audiences and modern music would quickly come to an end....In the long second section there were numerous gorgeous solos for winds, including a ravishing line from solo oboe over timpani roll and pedal tones from the double basses.  There was also a lovely soliloquy for clarinet.  The mood alternated between gentle sorrow and striving affirmation.  "Remembrances" ended on a rising three-note figure and the piece was quickly awarded enthusiastic applause, bravos and a standing ovation."   - Seth Williamson, Roanoke Times, March 19, 1996

"The moving "Remembrances" is 'an elegy and a tribute' to a deceased loved one. Its 15-minute span allows it to move with unhurried sincerity from mourning to hard-won reassurance. With its consonant tonality, it is the most stereotypical "American" piece on this disc." - Raymond S Tuttle, International Record Review, June 2006