TO THE MOON

I would like to go to the moon with the steam

to be able to make love with the women up there

I would like to go to hell in a stagecoach

to see if mindfulness is the same as up here

I would like to go to paradise in a carriage

to see Baby Jesus and that good man of his dad

This nineteenth-century popular song, originating in Lombardy but common throughout the territory of the Alps, expresses an image of a moving simplicity and sincerity as only popular songs can: the description of a young man who, in the moonlight, asks questions about the values of life.

This was the reason that prompted the composer to use this traditional tune in a composition for large symphonic band dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the first landing of man on the moon. The work exploits the full tonal palette and potential of a wind orchestra, testing all musicians with extremely difficult virtuosic passages. While using a language that is varied in style and idiom, the composition refers to a purely classical form: the sonata form. Within this structure, however, the sections do not respect the canonical order. With their unusual succession, they help to develop that sense of freedom and lightness that characterizes the entire composition.

To the Moon is a symphony based on the joy and lightheartedness inspired by a pair of colorful shoes and a motor scooter on a warm spring evening looking at the moon. Marco Somadossi composed this composition to try to share, and to wish, this happiness to musicians and listeners. To the Moon was commissioned by the Besana Brianza International Wind Band Festival and its director Armando Saldarini.