Concerto for Marimba, Vibraphone and Orchestra by Maya Badian
- Mircea Badian (1967-1989) In Memoriam -
Movements: 
I. Preludio [Marimba] (4:49)   
II. Aria [Vibraphone] (3:47) 
III. Perpetuum mobile [Marimba/Vibraphone] (2:42).

Instrumentation:
Marimba and Vibraphone, soloist (1 player) / 1(picc),1,1,0,asax / 0,1,0,0 / timp, perc(3) / strings.

Performers:
Marie-Josee Simard, marimba and vibraphone   
Jahja Ling, conductor
Vancouver Symphony Orchestra 
Dr. Maya Badian, composer
Vancouver, Canada
March 7, 1989
Duration: 11 minutes

Program notes:
“Concerto for Marimba, Vibraphone and Orchestra by Maya Badian is acknowledged as the first concerto ever scored for these instruments in Romanian music history. 
The idea for the concerto came from her son Mircea who, at 20 already a virtuoso percussionist, wanted to perform the world première of the work. The concerto is dedicated to the dearest memory of Mircea Badian, who made tremendous contribution in assisting his mother to compose the parts of the virtuoso percussion instruments.  
I. Preludio (marimba and orchestra). The solo marimba is ingeniously treated as a melodic instrument. The movement is in a free form with the opening theme surrounded by micro-structures of indeterminate pitches, based on different cells from the theme and performed by the four members of the orchestra’s percussion section. These indeterminate sounds gradually become actual pitches, scored for winds and brasses. Transforming music from “noise” into “sound” is a marvellous technique, suggestively named by Pierre Boulez illusions acoustiques.  Toward the end of the Preludio, the marimba solo once again recalls its theme.  
II. Aria, the second movement (vibraphone and orchestra), is built with a pure combination of timbres that justifies the movement’s title. The predominance of solo voices generates the lyric expression of this movement. 
III. Perpetuum mobile, the final movement (marimba/ vibraphone and orchestra), focuses on the virtuoso aspects of both solo instruments, within a complex moving soundscape. The main ideas from the previous movements now include alternations between noise and determined pitch as well as between solos and full orchestra, being presented in a tumultuous vision, and gradually involving the whole orchestra in fortissimo. This approach emphasizes the global effect of this concerto as a strong and powerful statement imbued with subliminal textures. 
This Concerto represents a major work in Maya Badian’s output.” - Fred Popovici.

"CONCERTO FOR MARIMBA, VIBRAPHONE AND ORCHESTRA by Maya Badian explores the virtuosity of the two solo instruments and the technique of the soloist. Like a musical sculpture, this concerto sensitively blends the peculiar timbres of percussion instruments." (E. Douglas Hughes: Promenade Program Notes, March 6 & 7, 1989, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra).

http://www3.sympatico.ca/badian/

Maya Badian - Concerto for Marimba, Vibraphone and Orchestra

Dr. Maya Badian is a Contemporary Classical Music Canadian Composer of Romanian Origin. 
Maya Badian has more than 100 published original compositions including symphonies, orchestral music, concertos, cantatas, chamber music, music for multimedia, and musicology and pedagogy works. All her works are published and internationally distributed by Lucian Badian Editions. Her musical output is part of the collections of international libraries, such as Library and Archives Canada, The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Bibliothèque Božidar Kantušer, Paris, France, and of many music libraries across Canada, the USA, Europe, Australia, Japan, and National Library of New Zealand. 
”Maya Badian is an important composer, if it does not use some of the extreme devices discovered by earlier 20th century composers, Badian’s music does reflect the accumulated wisdom of a century of experiment and invention.” – The Ottawa Citizen
Dr. Maya Badian have her life and achievements reflected in an international biography work: The Life and The Music of Maya Badian, A Privilege to Soar by Fred Popovici, Pro ARS Publications, Ottawa, 2010.
“An internationally acclaimed composer” – as described in Orchestral Works CD Review, Winnipeg Sun, 1999.
Dr. Badian is a member of the Canadian Music Center, Canadian League of Composers, Association of Canadian Women Composers, Ottawa New Music Creators, Romanian Union of Composers and Musicologists, Union of Composers and Musicologists of Moldova.

Association of Canadian Women Composers

The ACWC is a professional organization for Canadian women composers, their supporters, and the performers of their music.

Maya Badian - Concerto for Marimba, Vibraphone and Orchestra

ACWC / ACC