Only in Sleep: Concert Band Conductor Score & Parts

Littlemore's band arrangement preserves the haunting introspection of Ešenvalds' original vision while unlocking it for concert band instrumentation. The orchestration is sophisticated without being dense, giving each section moments to shine while maintaining the work's dreamy, cohesive atmosphere. This is a piece that communicates genuine artistic substance to an audience, not just technical showmanship.

Only in Sleep evokes the weightless logic of dreams, where familiar images shift and dissolve without warning. Harmonies drift and resolve with gentle inevitability; the orchestration creates pockets of warmth and moments of isolation. It is introspective without being melancholy, and touching without sentimentality.

Concert bands at the Grade 3 level seeking repertoire that balances accessibility with artistic substance. Directors who want their students to experience contemporary composition that prioritizes lyrical expression and harmonic color over virtuosity. Programs looking to include a work by a living composer with international stature and proven appeal to audiences.

• Shape the opening with care; the initial statements need to feel like fragments of memory, quiet and vulnerable rather than projected outward. Balance transparency of texture against the temptation to add weight.
• Attend to the harmonic movement as carefully as you would a choir's voice leading. Many voices are at play, and the richness comes from how they blend and resolve, not from dynamic force.
• Use the five-minute arc to build a gentle emotional arc rather than pursuing dramatic climax. The piece works best when listeners feel they are drifting through a dream rather than watching a narrative unfold.
• Maintain ensemble cohesion through passages where rhythmic independence occurs among sections. Ešenvalds values horizontal independence; the beauty comes from how lines respect one another rather than locking into a pulse.

This work functions beautifully as a concert opener or closer, depending on the surrounding repertoire. Pair it with other contemporary works by living composers to create a programming statement about your ensemble's artistic priorities. It also serves as an effective bridging piece between more traditional standards and experimental repertoire, inviting audiences into a more contemporary musical language.

• Ensemble balance and blend in a primarily lyrical context
• Attention to harmonic progression and voice independence
• Expressive conducting and phrasing without reliance on tempo extremes
• Reading contemporary concert band scoring and instrumentation choices
• Sustaining focus and ensemble cohesion in slower, introspective music