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Download a PDF file of the full score of the single piano version this composition. This score may be printed and duplicated for the purposes of performances. However, please send a message to performances@gwynethwalker.com, notifying us of the date/location of the performance.
Download a PDF file of the full score of the two piano version this composition. This score may be printed and duplicated for the purposes of performances. However, please send a message to performances@gwynethwalker.com, notifying us of the date/location of the performance.
Commissioned by pianists Samuel and Nancy Bent of Hanover, New Hampshire. This work was specifically intended for performance of a benefit concert for Amensty International on October 4, 1987 in Rollins Chapel on the Dartmouth College Campus
Testimony, scored for piano(s) and readers, was composed as a tribute to Amnesty International USA. The readings are adapted from letters by and about the prisoners of conscience with whom Amnesty is concerned. The music which surrounds the readings is derived from the spiritual "Go Down Moses" -- especially the final refrain "let my people go.".
The work opens with a statement of "Go Down Moses." Readings of letters are then interspersed with variations of the song. Each variation is a musical reflection upon the reading which precedes it.
The final section presents the reading of a letter from a Soviet prisoner confined against his will in a psychiatric hospital. During this reading, the pianist plays reiterations of the 5-note rhythmic pattern 'let my people go' -- on the keys, strings, and body of the piano. As this rhythmic activity increases, the song "Go Down Moses" reappears and is sung by the readers.
Notes by Carson Cooman