Keown-Festival of the New Sun (SP)-4T/P

Festival of the New Sun by Alan Keown for percussion sextet. Festival of the Sun (sometimes referred to as the Unconquered Sun) was not originally an official festival but was celebrated by adherents to Mithraism as the birth of the new sun. The Emperor Aurelian was devoted to a single god (Sol Invictus), and during his reign it became a public festival complete with chariot racing in the Circus. He erected a temple to Sol Invictus in A.D. 274.

This piece opens with a distant and repetitive snare motive, players layer in one-by-one, building to a driving and groovy piece. Players are featured through solo and duet phrases, and dramatic dynamics are used to give the piece a relentless sense of motion throughout.

Instrumentation:
Snare Drum, 2 High Toms, 2 Low Toms, Piccolo Snare, Finger Cymbals, 2 Cowbells, Tambourine, Suspended Cymbal, Temple Blocks, 4 Timpani