Instrumentation: 10 percussionists

 

Duration: 11 minutes

 

World Premiere:  Commissioned and premiered by the University of Houston Percussion Ensemble, Blake Wilkins, director, on October 30, 2006, Moores School of Music, University of Houston, Houston, TX.

 

Program Notes:

The combination of mallet percussion instruments made of wood (marimbas) and metal (vibraphones) is the basis for this 10-minute work for 10 percussionists. The quiet, contemplative first section of the piece, dominated by the marimbas, eventually gives way to the fast, rhythmic, and dramatic main section of the work. The two contrasting sections also contain contrasting techniques: the use of longer, reverberant sounds in the first (such as bowed vibraphone, crotales, and rolled notes on the marimbas), and harder, accented sounds (the use of hard sticks on cowbells, tom-toms, and the marimbas).

 

-- Pierre Jalbert