PURCHASE.
instrumentation.
Flute 1
Flute 2 A & Bb Clarinet A & Bb Clarinet Bass Clarinet F Horn 1 F Horn 2 Bb Trumpet 1 Bb Trumpet 2 Tenor Trombone Bass Trombone Percussion 1: China Cymbal Suspended Cymbal Hi-Hat Three Toms Triangle Snare Drum Percussion 2: Marimba Percussion 3: Vibraphone Xylophone Violin 1 Violin 2 Viola Cello Contrabass |
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Colin Nossek’s Miniatures, composed attacca, are as brilliant as they are imaginative. This delightful work for medium-advanced orchestra will challenge your ensemble and electrify your audience with its rich textural writing and intense virtuosic passages!
Five Miniatures is the closest I have gotten to minimalism thus far in my career. Each movement (no more than 3 and a half minutes in length) was an attempt to make the most out of very little material. The first, Pulse is based around a recurrent hemiola eighth note pulse with simple diatonic melodies and colorful orchestration. The second, Breathe is simply a chord progression enlivened by overlapping the harmonies between different sections. The third, Revel uses virtually only two main ideas; a recurrent melody in natural minor and brass interjections based around every note of the pentatonic scale sounded at once. The result is something that almost sounds like it could play at a nightclub. Movement four, “Rest” is a transcription of a choral piece I wrote based on a poem by Robert Frost. The fifth and final movement is called Synecdoche; a figure of speech in which a part of something is used to refer to the whole. Elements from every movement appear in the final one; a bass clarinet ostinato from one, a chord progression from two, rhythmic gestures from three, and expansion of the opening phrase from four. There is hardly anything heard for the first time in movement five; it is a patchwork of what came before.
piece information.
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