Wim Bex

Wandering Spirit

solo trombone and piano (reduction from solo trombone and wind band)

During the conceptual process the composer kept seeing the journey of a soul through this lifetime on earth and he felt the need to translate it into music. He wrote it in a continuous three part ABA-like structure.
The first part describes a lone soul searching for affection and pleasant company. During childhood, it encounters more and more soulmates, a feeling of unity, which is translated into a first musical peak of solidarity.
This positive vibe remains in the quicker and lively middle part, where the soul enjoys its time with the others, developing towards adolescence. The individuality of each soul starts to grow. All souls are still on the same track, but life teaches each of them to follow its own course. This happens very naturally as it progresses into adulthood.
Gradually feelings of separation start to develop. The soul starts reflecting over its course, experiences feelings of loneliness and detachment.
This short passage is linked with the beginning of the piece. but these darker thoughts are relatively quickly put aside thanks to the insight that all souls in a way share these same feelings of separation from one another. Which makes them all the same and the illusion of separation is being lifted through this unity. this teaches the most important lesson that all is equal and one should not exclude oneself from the other, nor from the source of All.
The climax at the very end of the piece can be seen as a short 4th part, the old age, in which the soul returns to the source.