This piece is a contemporary adaptation of the traditional spiritual, Wade in the Water incorporating blues scales, mixed meters, and extended phrases.
Instrumentation
1-Conductor
3-Flute 1
3-Flute 2
2-Oboe
2-Bassoon
4-B flat clarinet 1
4-B flat clarinet 2
4-B flat clarinet 3
2-B flat Bass clarinet
2-E flat alto saxophone 1
2-E flat alto saxophone 2
2-B flat tenor saxophone
1-E flat baritone saxophone
4-B flat trumpet 1
4-B flat trumpet 2
4-B flat trumpet 3
4-F horn
6-Trombone
2-Baritone B.C.
2-Baritone T.C.
4-Tuba
1-String Bass
2-Percussion 1: Tam-tam, tambourine
2-Percussion 2: suspended cymbal, crash cymbal
2-Mallet Percussion: Bells (glockenspiel)
1-Timpani
Meet The Composer
Adolphus Hailstork is Professor of Music at Norfolk State University. He received his doctorate in composition from Michigan State University, where he studied with H. Owen Reed. Previously, he had studied at the Manhattan School of Music with Vittorio Giannini and David Diamond, at the American Institute at Fontainbleau with Nadia Boulanger, and at Howard University with Mark Fax.
Hailstork has written many works for chorus, solo voice, various chamber ensembles, band, and orchestra. Among his compositions are Celebration, which was recorded by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra; the award-winning band compositions, Out of the Depths and American Guernica, and the award-winning choral and chamber works, Mourn not the Dead and Consort Piece.
In 1990, a consortium of orchestras commissioned the Piano Concerto, which was premiered in 1992. Other commissioned works include Festival Music for the Baltimore Symphony and the opera Paul Laurence Dunbar: Common Ground for the Dayton Opera Company. Recent performances of Dolph’s works have been led by Daniel Barenboim with the Chicago Symphony, Lorin Maezel with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and Kurt Masur with the New York Philharmonic.
About The Premiere
New Wade ‘n Water was premiered in 2003.