Concertini

As its title implies, "Concertini" comprises a series of short movements and features the alternation of solo and tutti sections. The movements range in length from one to four minutes. It is scored for flute doubling piccolo, B-flat clarinet doubling E-flat clarinet, oboe, bassoon, two horns, trumpet, trombone, piano, percussion (vibraphone, marimba and timpani), and strings. To achieve unity and coherence in a work with so many disparate parts, all the movements share an ever-varying cantus firmus, as well as motivic and thematic elements. Gestures are echoed and transformed; conflicts revealed in one movement are heightened and resolved in another. Range and orchestration also come into play: The early and late movements focus on the bottom of the orchestral palette, while the middle movements use the highest orchestral sounds. The featured instruments for each movement are I: low strings, piano, timpani, bassoon; II: tutti; II: brass; IV: tutti; V: piccolo, oboe, clarinet; VI: violin; VII: violin, viola; VIII: tutti; IX: trumpet; X: tutti. While the movements are interrelated, each has its own character: Raucous rumblings of the first movement are made more linear in the introspective Andante piacevole that follows. The intervals of the third movement?s rhythmic brass chorale are followed by a more melancholy treatment in the Andante Moderato. Material first presented by strident and insistent winds in movement V also appears in VII, tutti sections, and in VIII, with a maniacal obsession. A lyrical contrapuntal web of sound (VI) is later clarified in greater tranquility (IX). The kaleidoscopic finale allows echoes of all previous movements. Each movement is dedicated to a composer whose work I admire greatly: George Perle, Elliott Carter, Peter Maxwell Davies, Donald Martino, Charles Wuorinen, Ellen Zwilich, Jacob Druckman, John Adams, Vincent Persichetti (in memoriam), and Ned Rorem.