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October
Posted on February 10, 2010 at 9:54 pm
Back in the year 2000 (I think) I was commissioned by a consortium of thirty high school bands to write a ‘grade 3′ piece. Band pieces are graded from 1-6, ‘grade 1′ being for beginning bands (think kids just learning their instruments), ‘grade 6′ being serious, virtuosic playing.
I wanted to write a piece that was beautiful and lush, something I wasn’t hearing a lot of in the world of concert bands. And I wanted it to sound a little bit like Vaughan Williams, and Elgar, and Thomas Newman. I honestly didn’t think it would get played very much after the first consortium performances, but then BOOM – the piece sort of took off and just kept going. It’s still my most popular work for winds.
A few years ago, Hal Leonard approached me and asked if I would be willing to let Paul Lavendar do an arrangement for string orchestra. I was hesitant, but there were a ton of requests from string groups and I just didn’t have the time to do it myself. Paul did a beautiful job with it, although I’d like to one day arrange it for strings myself – and full orchestra as well.
(I’ve even thought of transcribing it for a cappella chorus, if poet Charles Anthony Silvestri and I can come up with the right text…)
I’d actually never really heard the string orchestra arrangement until I stumbled on this YouTube video last night. The performance is way, way to fast, but the basic idea is there. I love the way it sounds, and can’t wait to conduct it.
And here is the original work for winds. (This is me conducting the Tokyo Youth Symphony, live):
29 Comments
Derryl on February 10, 2010 at 10:13 pm
Wow! That is certainly spectacular.
And now that I think about… October for a cappella chorus would be absolutely breathtaking. That’s something that I’d really like to hear!
Elliott on February 10, 2010 at 10:29 pm
Now THIS is what I’m talking about!
Sam on February 10, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Oh my goodness, HUGE agree on the a cappella version.
I actually only have the music for strings. I LOVE the second solo for cello.
Kat on February 10, 2010 at 10:49 pm
LOVE it! I listened to the wind version first and thought, “that won’t sound right with strings” but I was so wrong! I really, really hope you find time someday to arrange a version for full orchestra…that would be simply amazing.
Ben Tomlin on February 10, 2010 at 11:22 pm
Listening to this I’ve spotted a multitude of references to later works of yours, surely intentional
At some points I felt there were too many moving parts at the top :P but it’s lovely otherwise, would be awesome in an a’capella arrangement
Aubrey on February 11, 2010 at 12:13 am
October was the first piece of yours that I ever heard… and it still is absolutely breathtaking in every way.
One of the best pieces ever written, without a doubt.
I’d love to hear this a’capella… it’s beautiful no matter what its arranged for!
:D
planejaner on February 11, 2010 at 12:47 am
truly beautiful…the dissonance and resolution, the longing. lovely
Paige on February 11, 2010 at 3:08 am
I love both arrangements and to have it for a cappella choir would be phenomenal!
Emily on February 11, 2010 at 4:11 am
Cello solo = AWESOME.
Of course, I’m a cellist, so I’m biased. :D
Courtney Lea on February 11, 2010 at 5:16 am
Oooo! PRETTY!
I’ve actually never heard ‘October’ (I know, I know shun me lol) but this sounds amazing!
LOVED IT!
Yohan on February 11, 2010 at 7:25 am
As a flutist I had an opportunity to play the original version before… hearing this in strings certainly brings back memories with different vibe. Wow.
Ross on February 11, 2010 at 8:26 am
An Acapella version would be awesome! This piece isn’t really a Grade 3 piece, it has such depth of emotion… I really don’t want to hear beginners play it, lol!
Pratik on February 11, 2010 at 10:47 am
Hal Leonard’s got a demo version up on their site, too, Eric – I haven’t listened to it, though I’m just about to – have you heard it?
Angie Gray on February 11, 2010 at 4:38 pm
I played October when I was in high school. It was the first piece that a new director gave us, and set us up for years of improvement. :)
Brad Sampson on February 11, 2010 at 5:07 pm
I played this piece two years ago, and it is still one of my favorite pieces of all time. I would also love to see a full orchestra arrangement of October. As far as I am aware, there isn’t anything by Eric Whitacre available for full orchestra- am I correct?
Charles Anthony Silvestri on February 11, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Working on it…
Zach Albrecht on February 11, 2010 at 10:34 pm
Wow. Quite a cool sound. Gotta love those strings. Dig the cello. I however do agree that it is MUCH too fast. Leaves don’t turn color and day in one day. It’s a process. It takes time, just like this piece should.
P.S – An arrangement for full Orchestra would be extremely epic.
P.S.S – I’m not sure if there are any other LOTR fans, but I definitely hear a similarity in parts of this song with the Rohan theme.
Levi Gerke on February 12, 2010 at 5:47 am
This piece always makes me cry/get uncontrollable chills. It’s so beautiful. Most of your music seems to transfer very well to strings..very cool.
Becky on February 14, 2010 at 3:54 am
October walks
With good-bye in her eyes
Like tears borne of
“Farewell,” tenderly,
Sweetly
Said.
And the wrenching depth
Of the loss:
A fading summer that dies
(In beauty) while courting
Stillness has not come…
Yet.
Her leaves fall beneath
Our feet so that
We can have softness and scent
To breathe in our spirits
While the earth surrenders
And capitulates to her stealthy disrobing.
We cannot sigh within
Because the October wind
Sighs with and for us.
The gentle rays
That cascade through dissembling trees
Turn gold beneath our fingers,
Burnish our hair,
… And while it trembles
The residual warmth feels
Like an embrace
We cannot ask for.
“Come back!”
We long to shout with
Summer’s retreat reverberating in our
Souls.
“Come back!”
Sings the mournful moment
Whose heart beats falter
With each footfall upon
A dying path…
Slowly and calmly
Summer walks away.
And October lies down
Into the ransomed caresses of leaves
—Cast from their perches,
Alive for a time and perishing
On the ground— where she pours forth
October tears…
As though she mourned their deaths,
As though she could heal all:
A withering world
So arrestingly beautiful
In its descent.
“Come back!”
Echo the trees
While all her
Tender grasses and expiring leaves
Share her cries;
And she kneels upon a ground
Turned cold,
Waiting…
For Winter,
Her lover,
The deep and silent companion
Of Fall.
The weakening sun flashes upon
The diamond tears of October rain,
And we look up
The world is suspended
A vivid painting that lives
(Forever)
In an October afternoon.
Ross on February 14, 2010 at 10:02 pm
Becky, can I write a song to those words? They are beautiful!
Tessy on February 15, 2010 at 10:03 pm
Now this brings back memories…this is the second piece of yours that I’ve ever played (the first being the first movement of Ghost Train). It was my freshman year of high school when I first played it, and I remember just being taken aback by the beauty of it and how it was unlike any other band pieces that I have played in the past (in other words, it was the first lush, emotive, meaningful piece of band music I have played in a very long time at that point). Then I have the privilege to play October again as a freshman in college (my grandmother was moved to tears by it, by the way), and it still moves me. I am not sure why – if it is because of the nostalgia behind it or just the music itself…or a combination of both. Also, this piece was, in a strange way, how I was introduced to your choir music. One of my best friends absolutely loves your work, and so she mentioned that I should listen to your choir pieces (her favorite choir piece of yours being Sleep). And about a year later my dad, knowing how much I like October, gave me two CDs of your choir music. I have been inspired since.
Ok, enough rambling…
The string version (though a bit fast) sounds gorgeous! And a full orchestra arrangement would sound so beautiful I’m sure! And an a capella arrangement would be amazing!
p.s. – When I took my brass methods class last year, one of the instruments I got to play was euphonium. And one night while I was bored in the practice room I taught myself how to play the euphonium solo. :) Also, I am super excited because we’re going to play Cloudburst for our spring concert (in an actual theater too, instead of the chapel)!! :D
October « SoaringLeap.com « The art of musical poetry on February 17, 2010 at 4:26 am
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Ben on February 18, 2010 at 4:05 am
Man, those kids can play. I assume you’ve checked out the Claude T. Smith recordings by Seika Girls School on YouTube?
James Perry on April 3, 2010 at 11:52 pm
I really couldn’t tell that the orchestral performance was too fast. Is the 13 second difference between the two recordings that noticeable?
Collin Harris on April 28, 2010 at 2:16 pm
My highschool orchestra just played this. Eric it is a beautiful peace. Great job =)
Yusef on May 2, 2010 at 10:08 pm
wow…idk how he did it…but this is one of my favorite concert bands songs that i have ever played…beautiful
Dustin Goes on December 13, 2010 at 10:44 am
October is probably the only piece of music in the wind music repertoire that always brings a tear to my eye (the however many times I choose to listen to it). I just can't get tired of this piece. Thank you Mr. Whitacre for such an awe-inspiring piece and I hope an arrangement comes out soon for symphony orchestra.
davyd on September 1, 2011 at 7:50 am
I’m the librarian for a community band. How do I go about getting parts for “October” for Alto Clarinet, Euphonium Treble Clef and String Bass? Please advise. JW Pepper sells individual parts, but not these parts in particular.
Eric on September 1, 2011 at 1:48 pm
Davyd, those parts don’t exist, I’m afraid…