This is the first movement of a composition being composed as a result of a woodwind quintet commissioning consortium. The title of the piece is Travelogue and is an aural representation of interesting places from around the world. The places to be represented are the Sailing on the Mediterranean Sea, Rocky Mountain Starlight, and the Alhambra. The composition would be 10-12 minutes total. For more information about the consortium. please visit http://cooppress.net
This movement is very free in form representing the carefreeness of sailing in a sunny, warm climate. Most of this Moderato movement is very gentle. It reaches three climaxes where perhaps the wind becomes stronger adding excitement to the adventure. One is at measure 22, another at 58, and the last at 66.
The flow of the movement is interrupted at m. 8 by a staccato 16th note motive. This motive represents sun reflecting off of the wave crests and interrupts and permeates the movement as the movement progresses.
The harmony is tonal throughout and even though the movement appears to be in g minor, it is bright and sunny most of the time due to the frequent tonality and modality shifts, some use of mild polytonality, and counterpoint. At measure 32, the music echoes the previous measure but with minor modality. It is as if a cloud has drifted in front of the sun for a brief moment, darkening the sunny landscape.
Below is the transposed score and sampled sounds in video format. Your comments are always welcomed.
Dr. B
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