converging worlds

Concerto for 5 Percussionists and Band

Duration ca. 30' (2002)
3(+pic+afl).2.1eh.6(+EbCl+acl+bcl+cbcl).2(+c bn).2asx.1tsx. 1bsx/4crt.4.5.3(+btbn).2euph.2/5 perc/hp.pf/cb

Premiered by “The President’s Own” United States Marine Band conducted by Col. Timothy Foley, Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, February 15, 2004.

In five movements that alternate between uneasy calm and urban-pulse edginess, the half-hour concerto is deftly written and exerts a strong pull. The harmonic language is freely dissonant, yet non-confrontational; even fragments of melody, often no more than a mere flutter or sigh, communicate strongly.

The percussion battery, which makes waves at the softest and loudest volumes, may be center-stage, but it doesn’t hog the unfolding drama. The array of drums, gongs, bells and cymbals is imaginatively integrated into the total sonic picture, while the wind instruments of the band — augmented by piano, harp and double bass — are likewise employed with considerable imagination and sensitivity to tone coloring. The ear is never bored.

... The concerto represent a masterful grasp of form and function... The music moves surely, seamlessly through its contrasting moods.

—Tim Smith, The Baltimore Sun, February 2004