"Variations on Lost Love" by David Maslanka, Performed by Michael Coleman. For this piece, Michael is using the Vic Firth Virtuoso Series Mallets. Check them out here: www.vicfirth.com/products/virt...
Program Notes:
"Lost Love" refers to the poem of the same name by the English poet Robert Graves. The poem describes a person so distraught by lost love that he enters a state of hyperawareness..."His eyes are quickened so by grief, he can watch a grass or leaf every instant grow." He can hear "A noise so slight it would surpass credence -- drinking sound of grass...the whir of spiders when they spin." And finally "This man is quickened so with grief, he wanders god-like or like thief, inside and out, below, above, without relief seeking lost love."
My variations are not formal variations on a theme. They are, rather, emotional pictures -- a variety of moods, attitudes and feelings that arose from contemplating the poem. They range from mournful and tragic to light-hearted and whimsical. The marimba is a wonderful instrument for capturing these qualities of feeling, particularly in its ability to produce small and beautifully sustained sounds.
"Variations on Lost Love" was composed in 1977 for marimbist Leigh Howard Stevens. It has been my pleasure over the years to see this music taken up by fine marimbists around the world.
-- David Maslanka
ABOUT MICHAEL COLEMAN:
Michael received both his Bachelors and Masters of Music Degrees in Percussion Performance from the University of Oklahoma where he studied with Dr. Lance Drege and Dr. Ricardo Souza. During his tenure at OU, he directed the OU Percussion Ensemble and received the Ronald J. Dyer Award for Outstanding Contributions to the OU Percussion Studio.
Michael is a former member of the Colts Drum and Bugle Corps and has taught and performed extensively in the Oklahoma City area.