Twilight Crane (Yuzuru) (score & parts) - WW5/NARRATOR

Twilight Crane (Yuzuru) 
for woodwind quintet and narrator
by Jack Gottlieb - American composer

An Old Japanese folk tale, Twilight Crane (Yuzuru), expresses a universal theme: the contest between materialism and spiritual values. A crane, in gratitude for having her life saved by a peasant, turns mortal and becomes his wife. For a while, they lead a simple, child-like existence. When it is discovered that the bird-woman posses the power of weaving extraordinary cloth from her feathers, the idyl is over. Driven on by two avaricious villagers, the peasant is vanquished by greed. He demands more and more cloth until the wife is forced to resume her form as a crane. She flies away from the human world forever, leaving behind the children who were her play-companions, and the peasant, now confused and remorseful. This work attempts to capture the mood, rather than the story of the tale. 

Duration: 12:00