Grand Canyon Suite

The Grand Canyon Suite is a popular suite by Ferde Grofé. It consists in 5 parts or movements, each an evocation in tone of a particular scene typical of the Grand Canyon.

Related Topics:
Ferde Grofé - Movements - Grand Canyon

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• Sunrise opens with a wonderfully mysterious and effective representation of the moment of dawn in the canyon. The feeling of peace is present, a sense of still air, of a place owned by nature. Gradually we hear the sun mount the sky until the joyous proclamations of the full orchestra announce the arrival of another splendid and radiant day.
• The Painted Desert is a water color of impressive delicacy and subtlety. Grofé manages to suggest the presence of some ageless, unchanging life still present in the arid and apparently lifeless desert, in the brilliant, sometimes startling colors of the rock formations, the geologic artwork of prehistory. Ingenious usage of chords and orchestral tone abound.
• On the Trail is the best known of the movements of the Grand Canyon Suite, the aural report of the day riding on the back of a pack donkey, beginning and ending with a great hee haw. Violin cadenza used to wonderful effect.
• Sunset is a nostalgic and pleasantly sentimental redering of the most glorious of Grand Canyon moments, when the sky is alive with vibrant colors above the deepening shadows in the great gorge.
• Cloudburst opends with a recollection of the On the Trail theme. Then we enter a summation, a kind of panoramic view of the vastness of this Western scene. On to this scene suddenly come dark, scudding clouds and a rising wind. The evening air is filled with fine sand and bits of tumbleweed. The storm breaks, with lightning, thunder and pelting rain. Then even more quickly, it is gone, with a last crash of lightning and peal of thunder.

The moon emerges from behind the clouds and the earth rejoices in refreshened pleasure in a climactic rousing finish.

Related Topics:
Moon - Earth

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