Prelude #75 by Allen Rickel

I've loved Westerns ever since I was a kid. I've also bee a fan of James Newton Howard for about the same length of time. (I actually got the chance to see him play live with Elton John all the way back in 1976, my first real concert experience.) Deciding that I wanted to watch a Western a couple of nights ago, I stumbled across "Wyatt Earp," a film that I've seen several times but not in many years and one, it just happens, to include a soundtrack written by Mr. Howard. I decided to watch the film again and, while I remembered that I enjoyed it quite a bit, I'd forgotten how much I liked the music. So, Prelude #75 was initially inspired by the soundtrack from "Wyatt Earp."

Completed on January 20th, 2022, the main theme of this piece started out rather simply and felt, to me, rather trite and simple so I transformed it into something which feels a little more like a folk tune and extended the original eight measure phrase to eleven measures.

Prelude #75's second theme is darker and, perhaps, more of what might be expected from me. I like it, though, and I hope you'll enjoy the whole thing.

Please let me know what you think. Thank you, as always, for taking the time to listen. I appreciate you.

Best,
Allen

Tracklist