This work is in three movements:

1. The Winds Begin to Rise
   
2. Soft Hour, that Wakes the Wish
   
3. Chariot of Fire

In Take Me Places I sought to create a chamber work that is expansive in its musical gestures, but also treats the group as a tightly-knit ensemble. During the first movement, rhythmically propulsive themse and punctuations are developed in cyclical fashion. The piano gradually pulls apart from the ensemble into a solo capacity. A similar rhythmic energy pervades the third movement, culminating in a series of "wave upon wave" swells. By contrast, the second movement, and the coda of the third, center around a hushed musical quality that might be suggestive of introspection, distance or "mystery." A recurring melodic figure, usually presented by the flute, forms the thread around which various other thematic fragments and colors are interwoven. Sung, scat, spoken and whispered fragments performed by the players are an extension of the instrumental motives, and often serve as a bridge between the two musical poles of the piece.

The titles of the individual movements, and the texts of the whispered passages in the third movement, are taken from poems of the English Romantics. (I was appalled when, shortly after the premiere of this work, the Hollywood film Chariots of Fire was released, and for a few years I was consistently queried during "meet the composer" sessions as to whether the third movement had been "inspired" by the film. Nope -- no connection whatsoever.) As to the title of the work, it simply suggests something that I believe any piece of music should accomplish for the listener.

PDF score excerpt
This is the opening score page of this composition.

MP3 audio excerpt
This excerpt is taken from the first movement about a minute and 25 seconds into the movement.
Duration : 48 seconds; size 1.5 MB ; encoding 256 kBit stereo

Premiered by the Musica Nova ensemble conducted by Sydney Hodkinson in 1980, Take Me Places has been performed on tour by the Twentieth Century Consort conducted by Christopher Kendall, by the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble led by David Stock, and by several university and conservatory-based new music ensembles.

A superb commercial cd recording of this piece, featuring Christopher Kendall conducting the Twentieth Century Consort ensemble, recorded in the Coolidge Auditorium, Library of Congress, is available on Innoval 633 CD 15.

This compact disc recording also is available by mail or phone from
innova Recordings
332 Minnesota Street #E-145
St. Paul, MN 55101
tel: 651 251-2823 fax: 651-291-7978
e-mail: innova@composersforum.org

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