Music Finland Core

* Title

Additional title

Description

Wind is my favorite elemental sound, perhaps because it embodies so many contradictions. Wind doesn't itself produce a sound, like water, and only creates one in contact with objects that are animated by it, that offer some sort of resistance to it. It's virtually impossible to record directly, only really sounding like itself when captured indirectly, resonating within a space. Rendering wind as a musical idea is a similarly oblique process, in that it's easy to recreate windlike sounds in a piece, but very difficult to communicate the essence of wind. In a sense, wind can only be sensed by peripheral rather than direct observation, inferred rather than invoked. One seeks the feel of wind rather than its literal sound, to paraphrase the Alaskan composer John Luther Adams.All this is by way of mentioning a hiking trip in Finnish Lapland I took in the summer of 2012. Walking through the high slopes of the northern fells, it struck me that there were few places on Earth where one could go to experience such deep quiet. No animals or birds broke the silence, there were no trees to rustle, no water lapping, and in drier moments, no rain pattering. Nothing but the wind. I took that idea home with me, wanting to write a piece that came close to the essence of this state. A choral piece for women's voices seemed like the perfect vehicle, when the request came. Rather than set a text, I opted for a set of basic phonemes that would allow me greater freedom in designing the form of the piece, and also to avoid the potential of words to signify. The one exception is an aphoristic pair of lines from a poem by Christina Rossetti, which ghost over the texture toward the end. The landscape I envisioned for the piece is very much that of my hiking trip: vast, uncluttered and still. The result is a near-ambient canopy of sound, a kind of inner wind, or perhaps a memory of wind, that one carries away from a momentous experience.Matthew Whittall

Year of composing

Arranger

Movements

Availability

Abbreviation	Instrument
Woodwind
acl	alto clarinet
afl	alto flute
arec	alto recorder
asax	alto saxophone
barsax	baritone saxophone
barhn	baritone horn
bcl	bass clarinet
bfl	bass flute
bob	bass oboe
bsax	bass saxophone
bsn	bassoon
cbsn	contrabassoon
cl	clarinet
ehn	English horn
fl	flute
hn	French horn
ob	oboe
pic	piccolo
rec	recorder
sax	saxophone
srec	soprano recorder
ssax	soprano saxophone
trec	tenor recorder
tsax	tenor saxophone
Brass
ahn	alto horn
atrb	altotrombone
barhn	baritone horn
btrb	bass trombone
cornet	cornet
euph	euphonium
fhn	flugelhorn
hn	French horn
tba	tuuba
thn	tenor horn
trb	trombone
trp	trumpet
Percussion
dr	drums
glock	glockenspiel
mar	marimba
perc	percussion
timp	timpani
vibr	vibraphone
xyl	xylophone
Strings
db	double bass
gamba	viola da gamba
str	strings
vla	viola
vlc	cello
vln	violin
Other
acc	accordion
cel	celesta
cemb	harpsichord
chords	chords
elbas	electric bass
elg	electric guitar
elorg	electric organ
elpno	electric piano
guit	guitar
harm	harmonium
hca	harmonica
hp	harp
instr	instrument
kantele	kantele
keyb	keyboard
live electr	live electronics
mand	mandolin
mel	melody
org	organ
pno	piano
synth	synthesizer
tape	tape
Vocal
alto	alto
baryt	baritone
basso	bass voice
ch	choir
chc	childrens choir
chf	female choir
chm	male choir
chx	mixed choir
cten	countertenor
mezzo	mezzo-soprano
sopr	soprano
speaker	speaker
ten	tenor
voc	vocal

Symphony orchestra
2222 4331 11 1, str = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 French horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, timpani, one other percussionist, harp and strings
Wind band
2252 3 423 21212 3 = 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 5 clarinets, 2 bassoons - 3 saxophones - 4 French horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones - 2 cornets, alto horn, 2 tenor horns, baritone horn, 2 tubas - 3 percussionists
Big band
221 4 4, pno, guit, db, dr = 2 alto saxophones, 2 tenor saxophones, baritone saxophone, 4 trumpets, 4 trombones, piano, guitar, double bass, drums
Additional codes
+	fl+pic = flutist doubles on piccolo
/	pno/org = can be played on either piano or organ
lib	ad libitum
obl	obligato
str	str: 65432 = specified number of string players
str min	str min: 65432 = at least 65432
str max	str max: 65432 = not more than 65432
solo	vln solo = violin is the solo instrument in a work not obviously for solo violin