It's My Partita (and I'll cry if I want to) for woodwind quintet (2007)
i Happy to Be Here
ii Belle of the Ball
iii Gavotte en Musette
iv Dance Light upon the Earth
14 minutes
As the title suggests, this work is conceived in a lighter vein. The first movement is adapted and expanded from the sketch for an abandoned band piece, while the finale is a slightly expanded version of a movement originally written as part of a collaborative piece for the inauguration of Dr. John Schwaller as SUNY-Potsdam president. “Gavotte en Musette” borrows both the metric character of the gavotte and the drone idea that Bach used in some of his gavotte movements.
“Belle of the Ball” is one of the few explicitly programmatic movements I’ve written: Most of what I know about ballroom dancing I learned watching the Three Stooges. More than once, the boys found themselves at a formal ball, where a flurry of “cutting in” inevitably ended with Moe dancing with Curly. In my piece, the oboe is the desirable partner with whom the horn, clarinet, and flute successively dance; the bassoon provides the dance music. Who will the oboe choose for the last dance?
It's My Partita was written for the Potsdam Woodwind Quintet.
i Happy to Be Here
ii Belle of the Ball
iii Gavotte en Musette
iv Dance Light upon the Earth
14 minutes
As the title suggests, this work is conceived in a lighter vein. The first movement is adapted and expanded from the sketch for an abandoned band piece, while the finale is a slightly expanded version of a movement originally written as part of a collaborative piece for the inauguration of Dr. John Schwaller as SUNY-Potsdam president. “Gavotte en Musette” borrows both the metric character of the gavotte and the drone idea that Bach used in some of his gavotte movements.
“Belle of the Ball” is one of the few explicitly programmatic movements I’ve written: Most of what I know about ballroom dancing I learned watching the Three Stooges. More than once, the boys found themselves at a formal ball, where a flurry of “cutting in” inevitably ended with Moe dancing with Curly. In my piece, the oboe is the desirable partner with whom the horn, clarinet, and flute successively dance; the bassoon provides the dance music. Who will the oboe choose for the last dance?
It's My Partita was written for the Potsdam Woodwind Quintet.