This work was commissioned in honor of the 75th birthday of the wonderful conductor Frank Battisti, , commissioned by alumni of the Ithaca High School Band, which he conducted early in his career. First performances at New England Conservatory and Ithaca College, October, 2006. It is based entirely on the musical pitches extracted from his name (FrAnk BAttisti), forming the musical motive F A B A.
In order to recognize the arc of his life and career, Day Dreams traces a metaphorical day. (The movement titles all come from Thoreau’s Walden—a place very close to where Frank spent a good part of his life.) The work begins with a dramatic sunrise. The second movement represents morning (or youth), and juxtaposes two extremely contrasting and seemingly irreconcilable types of material, typical of that stage of life. The third movement explores the afternoon (adulthood), a period of sophisticated balancing of life’s many forces. The final movement is a sunset, with each individual player saying goodbye….