DANIEL DESPINS
Composer and Arranger
TRYST, a song for soprano and brass band (2021)
Written for Hila Plitmann and the Boss Street Brass Band.
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Music and words written by Daniel Despins.
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Premiered on March 7, 2022 at the Butler School of Music, Bates Hall, at the University of Texas at Austin.
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As a composer, I love every family of instruments for different reasons, but the world of brass holds a special place in my heart. As a kid, the trombone was the first instrument I learned to play, and since then I’ve played in various bands throughout my life, which strengthened my love for the powerful, dynamic, exciting sounds that brass instruments can produce. As a singer, I developed a love for the medium of song too - the human voice is a unique method of self expression that can bring people together in a way that few other things can. So, when I was asked to write a piece for Hila Plitmann and the Boss Street Brass Band, I was excited to work with these wonderful people and to combine my love of these two worlds!
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TRYST is a song about a romantic midnight rendezvous between two lovers. I hope that this music and these lyrics capture the undercurrent of electric excitement that people can share through this experience.
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(August 2021)
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She walks in moonlight and shadow
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In the electric forest night
Slipping through the trees
Elusive as a shade, always just out of reach
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In forest thickets black as ink
She leads me to the river
Flowing with gentle power
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On the misty riverside, where the crickets sing
She beckons me into her warm embrace
Sinking into the earth, the thrill of summer night
Fills my soul with new life
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Under a moonlit sky
Her luminous eyes reflect my gaze
The wind in the treetops whispers
Carrying the sound of promises made
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The rhythm of the forest nightlife echoes in the pounding of our hearts
Cacophonous swelling, rising and falling in a universe all our own
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On the misty riverside, where the flowers dance
We sing within this warm embrace
Sinking into the earth, the thrill of summer night
Makes us feel alive —
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And our souls are electrified