Program Notes

Go Down, Moses

William M. Toland, composer

This piece is an arrangement of the traditional spiritual. It is absolutely tailored to the rich and expressive voice of Vanessa Yvonne. It is another example of my writing to the style of the performer. The music is truly exciting because what Vanessa puts into the interpretation cannot be written. The arrangements open with a trumpet solo representing the trumpet of fate. In each verse the music supports the lyric. The minimalist third verse lets Vanessa’s expressiveness come forward.

—WMT

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