Utah State University Faculty Monographs
Full Score for Double Woodwind Quintet
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Description
Full Score refers to the occasion of this work’s composition: the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the Logan Canyon Winds, the faculty woodwind quintet at Utah State University. The work was written at the request of Nicholas Morrison, an original member and clarinetist in the group, whose wish for the work to include the members of the student woodwind quintet at Utah State (the Caine Woodwind Quintet) resulted in a five-movement piece (performed attacca).
Although the work is not a concerto grosso, each movement includes one of the faculty quintet as a major player: Flute (piccolo), Oboe, Horn, Bassoon, and Clarinet, respectively. The idea of a sampler for each instrument in its own style is introduced by a recurring “promenade” figure that introduces each movement to varying degrees, with the opening and closing movements a literal translation in cyclic fashion.
The opening movement, “Promenade,” is in stately march style with first and second strains, a break strain, and a recapitulation that includes a piccolo obligato. The second movement, entitled “Dialogue,” features the oboe with the first thematic statement, following a short introduction based on the “Promenade” theme. The dialogue itself is in arch form (aba) with two complete statements, in Ab and B minor respectively.
Movement three, “Celebration,” features the horn in an alternating 4/4 - 3/4 melody. A short stop chorus, also featuring the horn, is the primary contrasting theme in this movement, along with a 3/4 bridge section. Although not literal, the recurrence of the main theme is meant to provide a rondo-like effect. Movement four is darker in character, perhaps reflecting on the challenges of a twenty-year collaboration. The bassoons provide a relentless ground bass over which layers of melodic material, first fragmented then complete, appear in ever-increasing intensity to a more optimistic climax and denouement before a final build-up and transition to the final movement.
The Finale, “Fruition,” begins with a complete restatement of the “Promenade” theme following a by a 12/8 strophic melody, introduced by a layered ostinato and including a virtuosic clarinet solo before “un-layering” (reverse order) in palindrome-like fashion. The strophic form continues in various permutations in a drive to a final coda, highlighted by final cascading and block statements by the two consorts (faculty and student) before the final measure in score order, as an ensemble.
Publisher
Pershelle Publications
Publication Date
2011
City
Logan, UT
Recommended Citation
Rohrer, Thomas. Full Score for Double Woodwind Quintet. Logan, UT: Pershelle Publications, 2011.