Au, Darin: Chasing Dragons

Original Version for Guitar Sextet

Released in honor of its 25th anniversary, this is CHASING DRAGONS as the composer originally conceived it. An enthusiastically embraced staple of the guitar ensemble repertoire in its familiar four-part scoring, Hawaiian composer Darin Au first wrote CHASING DRAGONS for guitar sextet, and reduced the number of parts after the 2000 premiere, making the piece accessible to more ensembles. Whether playing it for the first time or the fiftieth, guitarists will love to experience the beauty, invention, and excitement of CHASING DRAGONS in its original expression for guitar sextet. "I wrote CHASING DRAGONS twenty-five years ago. It received its premiere at the 2000 Guitar Foundation of America Convention and Competition in San Antonio, Texas. At the convention, I met guitarist, scholar, and publisher Matanya Orphee. He was kind enough to offer to publish it through his publishing company, Editions Orphée, and for that I will always be grateful.The piece was commissioned by Kevin Taylor, and was originally written in six parts for his talented and well-trained youth guitar ensemble. Matanya, however, decided the piece would be more flexible and marketable as a quartet, and asked me to edit the original into four parts with optional parts for fifth and sixth guitars. What a challenge! That is the version that was released to the world, not the original in six parts.A few years ago, I happened across the original sextet version on my hard drive, and wished it had seen more daylight. Now, here we are, full circle, twenty-five years after the premiere, with the original version publicly available for the first time. You will find the piece just the way I wrote it all those years ago. Examining the original manuscript, editing the layout, and playing through the parts has been a time of reflection for me, a sort of conversation with my younger self. And yet, I see all the same things I value in my music today—strong melodies, syncopated rhythmic figures, counterpoint, and spirited playing. CHASING DRAGONS has lived a life of its own. It has traveled the world, performed by professionals and students alike. Joe Klein, my dear friend and distinguished Professor of Composition at the University of North Texas, once told me, “Anyone can get a piece performed once. It’s when you get it performed twice that you know you’ve written a good piece.” So I am truly grateful to all of you that have loved the piece and performed it at least twice." Darin Au