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16CFC8DD-4B37-4198-A54A-9B109080DE72
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Update Title: 16CFC8DD-4B37-4198-A54A-9B109080DE72
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Commissioned (by William MacLean) and premiered by the American Wind Symphony under conductor Robert Boudreau in 1964, Warren Benson’s Symphony for Drums and Wind Orchestra (1962) has been hailed as "pioneering", "significant", "landmark", and "a tour de force of percussion writing that has been imitated by numerous other composers since." The work has been compared to the music of Edgard Varèse, and is certainly one of the very few musical statements of its time to approach the wind and percussion orchestra with both a radical sense of timbral exploitation and a classical sense of form. Movements: I. Invocation, II. Contemplation, III. Declaration.
Instrumentation
2(+Picc).2(+EH).6(+ECl,+BCl).2(+CBsn): 6.6.4(+2BTbn).1: StrBs.Hp(2).Pno: Timp.Perc(5)
Commission
Commissioned by William MacLean for the American Wind Symphony, Robert Boudreau conductor.
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Program Notes
Commissioned (by William MacLean) and premiered by the American Wind Symphony under conductor Robert Boudreau in 1964, Warren Benson’s Symphony for Drums and Wind Orchestra (1962) has been hailed as “pioneering”, “significant”, “landmark”, and “a tour de force of percussion writing that has been imitated by numerous other composers since.” Lasting 21 minutes, and in three movements played without pause, the work has elements of a concerto grosso with the timpani and non-pitched percussion acting as the concertino group in alternation with the winds and pitched percussion (as well as two harps and one piano). The brief first movement, “Invocation”, introduces a conflict between two pitches, A and B-flat, and alternates between wind and percussion episodes until a climax is reached, after which the conflict is ultimately resolved into a sustained A. “Contemplation”, the second movement, consists of a ground bass that is played thirty times throughout the movement, against which various themes are developed. The third movement, “Declaration”, draws from elements of the first two movements and builds to a massive climax, out of which powerful drum ostinati emerge and fade, as a percussion group solo, to the end of the symphony. The work has been compared to the music of Edgard Varèse, and is certainly one of the very few musical statements of its time to approach the wind and percussion orchestra with both a radical sense of timbral exploitation and a classical sense of form. Program note by the publisher, assisted by A Bio-Bibliography of Composer Warren Benson by Alan D. Wagner (The Edward Mellen Press, 2005)
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Inhouse Note
Study score currently available through Subito music # 80603950
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Premier Performance Memo
July 4, 1964 - Pittsburgh, PA. American Wind Symphony. Robert Boudreau, conductor
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I. Invocation II. Contemplation III. Declaration
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