PLAY Voices from Chaco, for Piano and Woodwind Quintet, II. Tombeau

Voices from Chaco: Concertino for Piano and Woodwind Quintet, mvt II. Tombeau.  Michael Mauldin, piano; Lynne Anderson, flute; Rhonda Blech, oboe; Bonnie Mauldin, clarinet; Joel Scott, French horn; Martha Beauchamp, bassoon, from the CD, "Enchantment: Music by Michael Mauldin."

The piece won the 1980 Composer-of-the-Year Competition of the Music Teachers National Association, USA.  Dedicated to the memory of pianist Paul Muench, the work was written to provide pianists of high-school or college age with a solo having an instrumental accompaniment of chamber proportions.

Centuries before Europeans came to North America, the Chacoans created beautiful cities, accurate solar/lunar markers, intricate artwork, straight roads, and a far-flung trade network.  "Voices from Chaco" marked the beginning of my fascination with these remarkable people.  By "time-traveling" a thousand years to a civilization that seemed "at one" with the cosmos, I found a way to be positive in my work.  There was also the tragic tone of a great people who dispersed, perhaps because of their overuse of the land (and maybe of their own powers).  Though we may never be certain of the reasons for Chaco's abandonment, I sensed that the place held vaulable lessons for us.