Composer’s Note:

Gabriel’s Wing was inspired by the archangel Gabriel who appears in all three Abrahamic religions as God’s messenger. The music features resonant harmonic series associated with the music of the spheres as well as soaring melodic lines that embody flight. The flute represents Gabriel, the piano the medium through which the angel moves and speaks. Commissioned by flutist Julia Bogorad and the Upper Midwest Flute Association, Gabriel’s Wing was a winner of the National Flute Association’s Newly Published Music competition and was presented at the Washington D.C. NFA convention in 1992. It was recorded by Patricia Spencer on her Neuma album Narcissus and Kairos, featuring flute music by Thea Musgrave and Judith Shatin. The Journal of the British Flute Society wrote “the angelic flute takes flight through the piano’s evocative medium. By clever use of pedaling, chords rich in overtones and other harmonic effects, the piano provides an exciting backdrop for the flute’s soaring phrases which are enhanced by singing with the flute tone,” while the American Record Guide said ” ‘Gabriel’s Wing’ conveys a well- crafted sense of ecstatic climax.”