Wind Songs

Instrumentation: Wind Quintet
Duration: 12:00
Premiere: 4/20/80
Clarion Wind Quintet
Bayly Museum (Fralin Museum as of 2012), Charlottesville, VA

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Program Note:
Wind Songs for wind quintet develops relationships between and among the instruments that encourage them to sing in their own voices and to join with each other to create newly emergent timbral qualities. Sometimes they sing in pairs, as in the paired unisons of the openings, sometimes in larger groups, and sometimes on their own. Rather than burying the individuality of each instrument, I chose to feature these qualities in different ways in each of the three movements. The first movement involves changing partnerships and coalitions in a lively dance-like texture. The pensive second movement slowly shifts harmonies and textures in a motion that suggests a more meditative discourse. The discussion becomes stormy in the final movement, with individual voices vying to be heard. As the movement unfolds, different voices dominate and recede, eventually coming to agreement. Wind Songs was premiered and recorded by the Clarion Quintet. It has since been performed by numerous groups, including the Capitol Wind Quintet, Richmond Chamber Players, and Syracuse New Music Group.

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