CONCERTINO FOR AN ORCHESTRA OF WINDS

Duration: 14:00

Date of Composition: 1992/1995

PROGRAM NOTES:

The Concertino is in a free form, cast in one movement of sections of varying speed and character. The instrumentation is that of the standard symphony minus the string sections. What remains is an orchestra of woodwinds, brass, and percussion with its many clearly differentiated colors. It is just this separation in instrumental color that generated the series of contrasting sections of the work, each featuring either a solo instrument or an instrumental group with its individual timbre. This individuation is further enhanced by a consistently chromatic use of pitch and strongly contrasting speeds of the diverse instrumental lines. The point was to throw as many musical elements as possible into relief. There is a maximum exposure of each instrument. Despite the singular, clearly bracketed series of interconnected sections, the opening theme, initially presented by the flute, is recapitulated by the trumpets. A concerted coda (all the instruments together) follows until the last three bars, where the flutes and clarinets briefly remind us once again, of the opening, fragmented and suddenly eradicated by silence. -James Sellars