Vāsava (Lord of the Spheres)

This is a work that I recently finished and conducted the premiere of. Read the program notes below for a description of the compositional process. There were a handful of revisions during the rehearsal process, so not everything is reflected in the score.

Please comment, I greatly appreciate any feedback! Hope you enjoy,

- Jason

YouTube - Vasava (Lord of the Spheres) for Brass Ensemble by Jason Thorpe Buchanan

Vāsava (Lord of the Spheres) for Brass Ensemble by Jason Thorpe Buchanan was written between December 2008 and January 2009. After a trip to the Asian art museum in San Francisco, I was reminded of my interest in Indian culture and their systems of organization in music. This work largely incorporates the Indian desi-tala system of rhythmic cycles, which are treated relatively strictly throughout the entire work. Each of the 120 ancient talas have specific cultural, spiritual and emotional associations and are used for specific events and situations. While visiting the museum and reading some Hindu mythology, I became intrigued by the idea of writing a series of character pieces for various instrumentation based on Hindu deities. The title is Sanskrit, and its English translation is "Lord of the Spheres". This name is often used interchangeably with the more commonly known "Indra", the god of thunder, lightning and rain. The title Vasava is in reference to Indras position as leader of Vasus, name for a group of Hindu (Vedic) gods. They are considered eight deities attendant on Indra, comprising day, dawn, fire, moon, pole star, sun, water, and wind. This work was commissioned by Takayoshi "Tad" Suzuki and the UNLV Brass Ensemble for a performance in May 2009 to be conducted by the composer.

Performance information:

Jason Thorpe Buchanan, conductor

UNLV Brass Ensemble, Takayoshi "Tad"Suzuki, director

May 1, 2009, Las Vegas, NV

For more information, please visit:

Jason Thorpe Buchanan or

Melos Music

The attached score is password protected and unavailable for printing or editing. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited.

Document open password: youngcomposers

VASAVA - Jason Thorpe Buchanan - score for young composers.com.pdf

No thoughts? Anyone? Going once?

Jason

First off, congratulations on not only getting your piece performed, but being able to conduct it yourself must of been quite a thrill.

Not the best recording in the world, but it does well enough.

You have some very nice ideas in this and I am sure it was a joy to listen to in person.

I see that you have commented on others works here and that always helps in getting people to comment on your works. But the more works you comment on, the more you will find will return the favor.

Congrats again

Ron

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