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  1. Taliesyn Overture, Op. 2 For Speaker, Electric Guitar, and Orchestra - Castle Rock Orchestra

From the recording Orchestral Read-throughs

A performance from 2013 by the Castle Rock Orchestra of my Taliesyn Overture for Orchestra, Electric Guitar, and Speaker. I have since replaced the speaking part with a four-part SATB vocal arrangement.

This piece arose when I was noodling with some medieval dance tunes on the electric guitar. I ended up writing a heavy metal song inspired by the melodies called "The Song of Taliesyn." The medieval music and epic heavy metal combination inspired me to write some lyrics about King Arthur (Taliesyn was a bard at King Arthur's court). I later rewrote the lyrics in a four-part vocal arrangement, inspired by a rereading of T.H. White's "Once and Future King."

This performance is a little rough - we had some other difficult works in that concert's set, and (it being a concert at the beginning of March) we lost some rehearsals due to a snowy winter! I think some of the excitement came through, though!