Program notes - The Prayer of Elijah

The Prayer of Elijah  is the second movement from "... and they gathered on Mount Carmel," a surround-sound musical depiction of the great confrontation between the Old Testament prophet Elijah and the false prophets of Baal recorded in I Kings 18.   The brass are split into two antiphonal choirs on either side of the audience and other performers are behind the audience.  The work was begun in March 1994 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, while the composer was an artist-in-residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, and was completed in Knoxville, Tennessee, the following March. The work received its premiere in 1995 by the University of Kentucky Wind Ensemble under the direction of Dr. Richard Clary and has been recorded by the Valparaiso University Chamber Concert Band under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Scott Doebler.

The prophets of Baal having failed to call down fire to consume their sacrifice, it is now Elijah's turn to call upon the God of Israel. The composer imagines an almost unearthly quiet, intensified by a low wind, as all eyes turn to Elijah. In contrast to the ranting and raving and blood-letting of the false prophets, Elijah utters a quiet prayer. The effect of the brass blowing air through their horns, the "whistling" of the plastic tubes being twirled, and the synthesizer "string" inverted pedal point creates the sense of eerie silence. The euphonium intones a prayer, which echoes about the mountain (offstage saxophones). Melody is the predominant parameter of this movement to contrast the emphasis on rhythm in the first. The euphonium solo is a development of thematic material presented by the clarinets in the previous movement.