Program Note

"Ring Out, Wild Bells" is based on an excerpt from a poem by Lord Alfred Tennyson by the same name (or In Memoriam). The excerpt reads:

Lately I have been incredibly drawn to romantic era poetry, particularly from England. Additionally, I have always been fascinated with churches, cathedrals, and sacred music. When looking for inspiration for a new chamber orchestra piece for the NYU Contemporary Music Ensemble, I went back to these fascinations. Some of the early sound concepts I had for this piece revolved around bells, particularly the brightness, reverberation, and harmonics. To create the bulk of this piece, I looked at the imagery from Tennyson's poem, and the sound properties of bells to create interweaving textures that melodic figures can flow in and out of. Tennyson's poem leaves open for interpretation what kind of bells are actually ringing, so I was able to explore many differnent kinds of bell sounds, including hand bells, sleigh bells, large church bells, among others.

When I had the opportunity to create a full orchestra version of this piece for the Brevard Music Center Orchestra I began reevaluating some orchestrational and artistic decisions. Having an expanded ensemble allowed me to more fully and freely create a denser and more visceral sound world. The expanded brass and percussion where crucial and revealed to me a larger climax than the one I initially wrote. Adding a few measures allowed the drama to shine through.

The structure of the piece is based loosly on an arch form and mostly follows the structure of the Tennyson stanza. The music begins with bells heard in the distance softly ringing against the visual of the sky at sunset. The bells become more and more cacophonous as the sky becomes more wild. The violas lead an accelerando into the next line, where the flying clouds and frosty light swirls in. The mood is lighter and crisper, with a new melodic line leading the swirling texture. The music slows as the sky enters night, with long lines in the trumpet and cellos overlap against swelling chords. The bells begin to ring out once more, more loudly and more triumphant than before. The brass emerge as the orchestra swells and bursts in glory. The piece ends with a huge bell hit, written out for the whole orchestra, as echoes of the ringing bells die into silence.

Performances

July 20th, 2026 Brevard Music Center, Brevard, NC. Brevard Sinfonia. (Reading Only)