Item Detail
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18777
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0
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0
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English
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"Visions of Eternity" : An Analysis of a Sacred Oratorio by Crawford Gates
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Tempe, Arizona
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Arizona State University
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D.M.A.
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Crawford Gates has written extensively for orchestra and choir. His works have been performed by ensembles in the United States and abroad, including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Utah Symphony Orchestra, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. He has also made unique contributions to the music of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, including hymns, choral and instrumental hymn arrangements, musicals, film scores, opera, and large sacred works. An analysis of Crawford Gates's Visions of Eternity , an oratorio for mixed chorus, orchestra, and a quartet of soloists, composed in 1992 as the first commission for the Sacred Music Series at Brigham Young University-Idaho, identifies several key features of Gates's compositional style, including a neo-romantic language comprising thick harmonic texture, elaborate instrumentation, dramatic and creative use of percussion, and melodic themes interwoven through dense orchestration. Issues of tempo, text, instrumentation, spatial considerations, rehearsal procedures, and interpretation are addressed through musical and textual analysis, interviews with musicians who have performed the work, and documentation of performance notes and score markings made by Gates and others involved with the premier performance. An interview with Crawford Gates provides additional insight into his compositional process and his experiences in composing Visions of Eternity. [Author's abstract]