Eric Saroian - Autumn

Eric Saroian - Autumn (for wind quintet)

Henry Dorn, conductor
Jeremy Makkonen, flute
Libby Ryan, oboe,
Audrey Rancourt, clarinet
Madeline Steffke, horn
Dylan Myers, bassoon

Program Notes:

"Oh great, another composer chose the four seasons to be their muse. How original."
some audience member, probably

Ok, first of all, I haven't even written pieces for the other three seasons ... yet. Secondly, ...okay yeah, this has been done many times before, but let me defend myself.

I feel I experience the four seasons differently than the typical cultural associations. Spring and summer feel melancholy to me, the latter in a greater way than the former. Winter has a general sense of calm, yet also a liveliness and energy, even after the holiday season passes. Autumn has a casual, joyful briskness to it; always a feeling of movement and dance. I wanted to highlight that casual and joyful nature of autumn in this piece. In some ways, I'd imagine this could be some people's imagery for what spring sounds like. But they're wrong, it's 100% autumn, no question. Besides, nothing screams autumn more than the key of A major.