THE SUNRISE PATH A 14-Piece Musical Suite by Angelee Sailer Anderson, Listen to the opening "Dragon-Prowed Ship" (approx 670 kb) Listen to "Chevalier's Shanty" followed by the theme of "Paradise Beyond the Wave" (approx 500 kb)
Cassette cover art by David Fernald

Home-produced CDs of The Sunrise Path are available at a cost of $15 per CD inclusive of shipping. For ordering information, e-mail me at sangreal@jps.net.

THE PIECES

The piece begins with a statement of the suite's primary theme on a far-off and antique-sounding solitary horn, which is joined by other horns, strings, and piano as the ship gets under way.

The piece's first section is a pastorale for two acoustic guitars and flute. Section two of the piece is dark and percussive. In section three, the melody of section one is transformed into a triumphal march complete with ringing church bells.

The storm theme begins quietly, but grows more threatening as the sound of waves, wind, and thunder increase. The piece's mid-section is a cacophonous counterpoint of tuned percussion, poundings and clangings, and distorted electric guitar. The final section reverts to the orchestral, as the becalmed ship waits for and is finally blessed with a gentle breeze to speed her on.

Harmonica, saxophone, acoustic bass, piano, and kalimbas dominate this slow, lugubrious boogie-woogie punctuated by steam.

Sombre chordal string music segues into a jaunty sea shanty for flute and musette backed by martial drum rolls. The moment when the full string section takes up this theme is one of my favourite musical moments in the suite.

The main theme is tossed into a blender and its notes scattered about chaotically in this very fast boogie-woogie characterized by a serpentine bassline and four-against-five rhythms, and dominated by piano, harpsichord, and vibrato tuba.

The music, at first exotically pretty, becomes progressively weirder and more assaultive, and ends on a totally unexpected note. Echoing bell, sitar, gliding voices, flute, and an original sound like a distorted banjo provide the instrumentation.

This piece takes two very differently styled themes in 5/4 time -- one "thumping" and energetic, one melancholy and contemplative -- and fits them together in a surprising way.

This is the stuff which B horror movie soundtracks are made of, appropriately hideous and great fun. The primary instrument is a wheezy pump organ that sounds as though it has been long inhabited by rats. Various sound effects represent nightmares.

This romantic Spanish guitar piece is my compositional favourite in the suite. The piece's mid-section is a deceptively simple-sounding chant leading into flute and violin "birdsong."

A metallic twelve-string guitar patch and bowed strings playing in fifths provide the backbone of the unusual melody at the beginning and end of this piece. The mid-section pairs underwater sounds with horns to create a submarine tally-ho.

Harp, bell, cello, and full strings weave their fantasia on a tranquil but poignant minor-key melody.

A restatement of Chevalier's Shanty ascends into the majestic full orchestral theme-with-variations of Paradise.

The main theme is exalted and rendered transcendant.