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Reveries - Version for Orchestra

Op. 44

Reveries has stood out as one of Lanning's most critically-acclaimed piano works, winning the praise of pianists and composers in New York City, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Phoenix, and Tucson. It has been called "A look into the surreal and fantastic mind of the composer, bringing excellent virtuosic character to the piano," and "An intricate blending of the new and the old in a way that sparks the imagination" by composition faculty at the Curtis Institute of Music.

Reveries has been adapted into a version for flute and piano at the bequest of a contemporary (WoO. 1), and has been orchestrated in its entirety as well. This orchestral version has been met with the same level of praise as the piano suite.

The suite is in five movements, each based on a surrealist/impressionistic painting:

I. Song of the Trees in the Park

II. The Lakeside House

III. Moon Light

IV. The Antic's Harp Song

V. Bach in Heaven

~~~~~~~~~

I. Song of the Trees in the Park:

It is a bright and mildly cloudy day

in the riverside park, the leaves of

the bright, lush trees sparkling in

the streams of sunlight that push

their way forward through the

intermittent clouds. They rattle in

the breeze that scurries through

the riverbank and its neighboring hills, the songs of the wind crafting an intricate canvas of chant-like melodies that sing and weave through the open air as though the trees were a chorus of haunting yet fervent vocalists. Under the singing trees, a man and a woman sit together on a riverside bench, silently in contemplation of their admiration for the chorus that surrounds them; they also exist in a state of unspoken blooming romance. This changes the chants of the trees to their ears; the melodies pass darkly into their hearts and emerge on the other side sweeter and lusher. They watch a bevy of swans gently paddle down the calm waters in front of them. The park, at this hour, seems quiet and serene, yet undeniably alive.

II. The Lakeside House:

The quiet and still mid-evening scene is dark and cloudy, the small, frigid stone house resting on the shore of the lake. The single light illuminating from one window of the house glows dimly from the outside, trying unsuccessfully to contrast the bleak and cold air outside. The glassy water of the lake is completely still, reflecting the tall skeletons of trees that have grown in a perfect row in front of the house, serving as way finders for the residents to find their way home. Living in this lakeside house is eternally peaceful and serene, yet cold, frigid, and lonely.

III. Moon Light:

It is an entity mimicking a crescent moon in both shape and illumination. It sits quietly in the air, rocking gently back and forth, no statement or mission to be made. It simply exists in the warm, gentle air, lighting its surroundings in a dark magenta hue and casting a glow over whatever beings decide to stroll underneath it. Its illumination comes from a bevy of fiery apparatuses. Candles rest on the entity’s framework, acting as faux candelabras that curl downwards ever so elegantly into the body of the moon. Lanterns hang not just from hooks on the entity but also from strings draped mindlessly from the crescent top. There the moon light remains, ever present, calm yet mysterious all the same.

IV. The Antic's Harp Song

What sort of strange and eccentric antic resides in the tall grasses of the midnight woods? He plays his magical harp wildly and with the most incredible fervor, the light on his organic instrument illuminating what is, at that time, the antic’s world. He is a master and trickster of both careless, clashing harmonies and musical structures, but also knows how to sing and pluck dark, haunting tunes that hint at a darker, more untamed side of the mind of this comic. Every new musical idea is the beginning of a new eccentric adventure, and our character will never hesitate to spin it into the harshest and most uncomfortably funny of tunes. The antic of this instrument is an untamed and wild musician, but also possesses a gift for solemn, singing beauty.

V. Bach in Heaven

In the golden sunlight of the great field, the single tree plays host to the heavenly organ of the great composer Johann Sebastian Bach, whose ever-present contrapuntal ideas ring out in perfect silvery glory over the heaven in which he now rests alongside his instrument. The transfiguration of this composer could only have been a beautiful, musical one, whom upon him ascension to heaven the notes of his most pleasant genius creations blessed all those around him and all those to come after. As the creator of modern music, whose brilliance shall never be forgotten, rests in his heaven, he keeps his sounds forever alive.

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