Into His Countenance - flute and string orchestra by Phillip Wilcher

To honour my Mother's life on what would have been her 82nd birthday. Dearly missed and never forgotten. (April 8, 1929 - June 21, 2005)

There are two previous uploads of this piece I wrote honouring my mother - one is a simulation, the other a live premiere performance given by the Bourbaki Ensemble with Amanda Muir on flute.

This particular recording was made as part of a cd release honouring my 50th birthday in 2008. Here again the performance is by the Bourbaki Ensemble with Amanda Muir on flute.

I thought it would be a fitting tribute on her birthday to upload it here with this photograph of my mother taken on her wedding day in 1950.

Her medical history was long and debilitating : not long after this photo was taken she had part of her thyroid removed, then followed a hysterectomy in the 70s, loss of both kidneys to cancer, osteoporosis, Parkinson's Disease and then multiple tumors in her liver and lungs. Her final days were excruciatingly painful. Because she had lost both kidneys to cancer at different intervals and she was on dialysis, morphine could not be administered until close to her final hour to ease her pain. Given all she'd been dealt throughout her life, it seemed so unfair. Just a gentle kiss to her forehead would cause her to cry out.

Through it all, she never complained.

She was a courageous woman who taught me that only the gentle are ever strong.

The music itself represents her soul moving towards the countenance of God.

We all too readily recognize the celebrity. A media personality sprains an ankle and it is headline news the world over and yet every day, people of equal importance in any walk of life, both grown ups and children, suffer the ravages of some debilitating or even terminal illness and their story goes untold. This tribute also honours those people and their loved ones. Bless you!

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Into His Countenance
• chamber music
• original composition
• flute and string orchestra
• Phillip Wilcher
• soul
• eternity. tribute
• elegy

[Zayden099]

I know you didn't leave the wiggles because you hate childrens music, but i wanted to know you story on how you got started in all this.I have a real interest in music and would really love to get in the business so any advice bad or \good would mean alot coming from you..

[PhillipLWilcher]

@Zayden099 Hi : Thanks for passing by. Are you asking how I came to be involved with the Wiggles in the first place, or in music and composition generally? I'm not sure what you mean when you say you want to "get in the business", if you mean as a composer, or performer, or more as an industry type. True, I do not hate children's music, I can't imagine any real musicians not being interested in children's music. Anyway, I'm happy to answer what questions you have as best I can. Blessings!

[Zayden099]

@Zayden099 Sorry for not being more specific,Yes how you came about being with the wiggles was my question.As for the business it was towards being a performer, i would love to do something like the wiggles do i love children i have two if my own.My friends told me to get a job in Disney land that it would be a great place to get started.to get the feel of working with children.

[PhillipLWilcher]

@Zayden099 I became involved with the Wiggles solely at the request of Anthony Field. It's that simple, really. I wish I could help you with your quest to become a children's performer but all I could suggest is that you begin and way leads on to way. Disneyland might well be a start. Maybe just put some ideas together and approach people in the industry. Blessings and best of luck!

[GrahamTVdotNet]

This music and your story about your mother moves me Phillip.

I have similar experiences, life touches us in many ways. It's inescapable, the longer you live, the more people you know, the greater the number of life experiences. It doesn't make these experiences any easier to cope with. But, somehow we do !

Very Moving piece !

[PhillipLWilcher]

@GrahamTVdotNet Thank you Graham. I appreciate your listening and commenting. I think everything we go through in life - be it good or bad - is a variation on the theme of Love, one way or the other - and as you say, the more we come to experience the more we come to "know". Our frailties are as much our strengths.

[IsisSlovenska]

@PhillipLWilcher prego Phillip :O), la sua mamma deve essere molto contenta ad avere un figlio come te!

[IsisSlovenska]

Sempre piú bello!

[prince2000ful]

Very lovely Theme.And the thoughts about your mother make the music complete as a poem.

[PhillipLWilcher]

@RodrigusVI Thank you. Blessings!

[RodrigusVI]

Beautiful song, very touching =)

[PhillipLWilcher]

@Mrl50 Dear Luisa: I have come to believe since my mother's passing that there is no death, there is no ceasing to be. Blessings to you and your dear mother. I'll keep you in my thoughts and prayers. Blessings to you both!