By The River | for Wind Symphony*

Andy McFarlane

Contact to premiere this work

My father planted a small orchard on our three-and-a-half-acre property next to a small creek, which has steadily cut through the earth these last three decades. The creek now feeds a man-made pond housing many small creatures and providing rich soil into which the thirty or so giants sink their roots. The Ohio seasons have brought significant storms, freezing, and heat, but many of these trees still produce in season, especially in time for apple butter and pies in autumn.

The magic is simple. As each tree's roots latch firmly and stretch deeper, invisible in the earth, its trunk can stand strong and proud and majestic. Its arms can stretch wider and higher and produce sweeter fruit--and more plentiful. These giants are life givers, relying on the sustenance and foundation of the earth to survive.

They inspire me.

The storms and heat that humanity weather are often fierce. The streams that nourish inevitably become rivers that cut the earth-- exposing our roots over time, and beating limbs until they break.

By The River for wind orchestra was written with these themes in mind. The musical themes are meant to tell the story of a tree, standing firm against the freeze and the heat and the storms and the river. The melodies mimic the tree stretching its roots deep and its limbs wide and providing shelter, fruit, and beauty to the world around it. I hope the music draws attention to these beautiful creations and inspires conductors, performers, listeners, and myself to mimic their steadfast growth in sustaining soil, both as we prepare for and as we face the heaviest of storms.

-Andy

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“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.”

Psalm 1

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“Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.”

Jeremiah 17:5-8

*My initial instrumentation for this piece has proven hard to program, as projected, so I am applying for funding to reinvent the piece for a more standard Wind Symphony. If you believe in this project and would like to support me, please reach out to me!