To listen while following along with the score, click here: (11) Rising Sun, by Dr. Daniel Thrower, for Brass Quintet - YouTube

“Rising Sun” was composed as a gesture of friendship between the two great nations of Japan and the United States of America. As a uniformed member of the Armed Forces, mine is a unique position of being able to share such a meaningful gift in an official capacity that bears great depth and meaning far beyond similar civilian cultural exchanges.

Before being assigned to Yokota Air Base in Japan, I was stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Nebraska. Part of my duties as a trumpeter in the military is to sound “Taps” as part of the full complement of a fallen hero’s military honors. Among the most somber occasions of fulfilling that special privilege was on behalf of a WWII Seaman, Wesley Brown. His remains were identified and shipped home to America’s heartland after 80 years of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941.

Fast forward to August 6 and 9, 2023, shortly after I arrived at my new duty station in Japan. On those dates in 1946, nuclear bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I recorded in my journal on the 9^th that my walk to work was quite sobering as I realized that my presence there was a direct result of that complicated global conflict. With significant symbolism, Pacific Brass read “Rising Sun” for the first time that day.

After 80 years, the post-war occupation has evolved to a thriving partnership most worthy of celebration. This composition “Rising Sun” potently delivers a personalized celebratory gesture from an American Airman to all those communities we serve throughout the glorious “land of the rising sun.”

In the music itself, one can picture a dim early dawn with the serene opening of the low brass trio. The musical content is repeated more loudly, with brilliant trumpet interjections as the sun crests over the early horizon. The music morphs and grows; varies and repeats, as it is intended to depict the subtly but rapidly changing beauties of an orange-filled sunrise. At last, the colors fade and the new day has begun, with a full brightness of hope.