Four Scenes for Ten Players (2004)
Duration: 20’
Woodwind Quintet (Flute – Oboe – Clarinet – Bassoon – Horn) plus Brass Quintet (2 Trumpets – Horn – Trombone – Tuba)
Movements:
Score excerpt
Awards Received:
Winner (Division I, Class A), Mu Phi Epsilon Original Composition Contest (2005)
Second Prize, Prix d'Été X (2005)
Premiere:
Peabody Chamber Winds; Dr. Harlan Parker, conductor
Friedberg Hall, Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, MD
March 2, 2005
Performers in audio recording:
Jessica Finch Kasprzyk, flute / Rachel Mortenson, oboe / Kristen Spiridon, clarinet / Joy Martin, horn / Patty Fagan, bassoon / Brent Flinchbaugh, trumpet / Beth Robinson Steele, trumpet / Jonathan Francis, horn / Nathan Siler, trombone / Alex Muehleisen, tuba; Russell Nadel, conductor
East Hall, Peabody Conservatory, Baltimore, MD
February 1, 2006
Program Notes:
This work, my largest to date in both length and instrumentation, explores the many capabilities and moods of an unusual (but marvelously flexible and interesting) chamber wind ensemble consisting of combined brass and woodwind quintets. It is structured in four movements, each of which explores different musical territory. A neo-Romantic Waltz explores the lush beauty of the woodwinds, complimented by muted brass (and loud brass at the movement’s climax). The second-movement Burlesque exploits the fabulously comical and grotesque character that the woodwinds and brass are so seldom called to bring out, and uses a Shostakovich-esque manic feel to surround the central section’s contrasting, slower mood. (I tried to evoke the images of both regular, laughing circus clowns and the rarely-seen crying clowns, both of which somehow manage to be funny.) A very slow, rather solemn Passacaglia follows, in which the musical material is put through continuously developing variations over an unchanging bass line. A rollicking Finale finishes off the piece, featuring exciting contrasts in tempo and meter and a rip-roaring ending section.
I am greatly indebted to Dr. Harlan Parker, director of the Peabody Wind Ensemble and Chamber Winds, for encouraging the composition of this work, and for organizing, rehearsing, and conducting its premiere, and to the marvelous performers under his baton.
— December 2004