Path Before Me, The (Solo Vibraphone)

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1. Percussive Notes New Literature Review

   This five-minute unaccompanied vibraphone solo was adapted by Walter Mertens from his “Song of the Open Road” for vibraphone and orchestra. It could be characterized as tunefully sophisticated and pensively legato in its structural content.
   
   Mertens’ program notes reveal additional inspirational traits including being inspired by Walt Whitman’s poem “Song of the Open Road,” in which Whitman describes the many choices one can make in life, the different “roads” one can take, but at the end of one’s lifetime, one comes to the final place where one should be. Perhaps the myriad of choices that any individual makes during one’s lifetime are paralleled in this 93-measure composition through its different harmonic variations — yet, ending quite peacefully and almost reflectively in A major. There are a few calculated silences (pauses), which permit the listener to think upon what has just been presented.
   
   This composition would make a thoughtful recital piece to contrast with more lively and dramatic presentations. Intermediate to advanced four-mallet technique is a prerequisite to an effectual presentation of this composition.
   
   Jim Lambert
   Percussive Notes
   Vol. 59, No. 2, April 2021 Jim Lambert on Jun 16th 2022