This week's concerts lead us to the premiere of Thomas Breadon's "Impressions for Wind Quintet." With five short movements, the piece contains nostalgia and a nocturne, but also a reflection of the current political climate and a reaction to the divisive nature that has taken shape before the most recent election.

Composed as a musical cryptogram, Tom assigned a pitch to each letter used. Included with each cryptogram are instructions for each musician on when to perform, but lacks any rhythmic direction, leading to each performance being unique.

The following are the quotes for the second movement of the quintet and the instrument representing each quote.

"We need to get the best and the finest. And if we don’t, we’ll be in trouble for a long period of time, and maybe never come out of it."

"In America, we don’t worship government, we worship God."
President of the United States, Donald J. Trump

Senator Whitehouse: "Does a secular attorney have a, anything to fear from Attorney General Sessions in the Department of Justice?"

U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions: "Well, no... a little concern I have that we as a nation, I believe, are, are reaching a level in which truth is not sufficiently respected, that the very ideal, the idea of truth is, uh, not believed to be real and that all of life is just a matter of your perspective and my, sp...perspective, which I think is contrary to the American Heritage... I think we should respect people’s uh, views and, and, and, not, n, demand any kind of religious test for, a, holding office."
Whitehouse: "And a secular person has just as good a claim to understanding the truth as a person who is religious, correct?"

Sessions: "Well, I’m not sure..."

"Our desire is to be in that shephelah, to, um, confront the culture in which we all live today in ways which will continue to help, um, advance god’s kingdom..."I think it goes back to the concept of really being active in the shephelah of our culture. To impact our culture in ways that are not the traditional, uh, funding the christian organization route, but that really may have greater kingdom gains in the long run, um, by changing the way we approach things, in the case, um, the system of education in the country."
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy Devos

"Under ENDA, employees around the country who possess religious beliefs that, that, uh, are opposed to homosexual behavior would be forced, in effect, to lay down their rights and convictions at the door. For example, if an employee keeps a bible at his or her cubicle, if an employee displays a bible verse on their desk, that employee could be claimed by a homosexual colleague to be creating a hostile work environment because the homosexual employee objects to passages in the bible relating to homosexuality."

Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence

"Are there racist people involved in the alt-right? Absolutely. Look, are there some people that are white nationalists that are attracted to some of the philosophies of the alt-right? Maybe. Are there some people that are antisemitic that are attracted? Maybe. Right? Maybe some people are attracted to the alt-right that are homophobic, right? But that’s just like there are certain elements of the progressive left and the hard left that attract certain elements."

Former Chief Strategist of Trump Administration Steve Bannon

Join us for performances of this work and our second series of "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue" Wednesday at 9:30 AM, Friday at Phoenix College at 7 PM and Sunday, November 5 at 3 PM at Central United Methodist Church. Tickets available here.

Quotes for Thomas Breadon's "Impressions for Wind Quintet"