Wind Ensemble

More information: https://composerjim.com/works/symphony-no-1/
First movement of Stephenson's evocative Symphony for Wind Ensemble. Recorded by the USAF Band of Liberty under the direction of Capt. David Alpar.
(Note: the guitar part has options for harp or keyboard)

Symphony #1 For Wind Ensemble

This is a live performance with The President's Own Marine Band with Jason Fettig, conducting.

Program note:
My wife’s grandfather was an extraordinary man. He was an immigrant who walked around quoting poetry and whistling tunes from his childhood in Scotland. Like a character from a movie he always seemed to pull just the right verse for the occasion.

 
In the spring of 2007, he fell into a coma following a severe stroke. After weeks of being in this state he awoke and said: 

 
In mist or cloud…

 …on mast or shroud… 

…It perched for Vespers nine… 

…Whiles all the night… 

…through fog-smoke white, 

Glimmered the white moon-shine. 

 
These were the final words of a man who always chose the right words. Within the hour he was gone. 

 
Not recognizing the verse, I immediately ran to Google to decipher what message the old man could have been delivering.

 
The verse is from the famous poem of condemnation and redemption, “The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner”. The poem is the story of a mariner condemned to travel the earth telling his tale of hubris and punishment in search of redemption. The mariner shot an albatross for no other reason than he felt like it and then suffered the wrath of both death and living-death for his gall. 

 
The verse my wife’s grandfather quoted is the verse immediately before the one containing the ill-fated murder of the albatross. As they say, the calm before the coming storm. 

 
My work entitled, “It perched for Vespers nine,” on a surface level engages the imagery from the verse itself. But at the emotional core of the work is my trying to work out what my wife’s Pop Pop might have been trying to tell us about what awaits us “In mist or cloud”.

 
It perched for Vespers nine was commissioned by the American Bandmasters Association and the University of Florida. For performance materials or any additional questions please contact:

www.billholabmusic.com

Buy Studio Recording

It Perched For Vespers Nine (LIVE The President's Own Marine Band)

LIVE performance from historic Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor. 

This performance features the McIver Quartet [Marjorie Bagley and Katherine McLin, violins, Scott Rawls, viola and Alexander Ezerman, cello] and the University of Michigan Symphony Band with Michael Haithcock, conducting.

Short Stories is a string quartet concerto commissioned by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, The University of Michigan, The University of Texas, Northwestern University and the University of Colorado and dedicated to Kevin Geraldi.

Approximately 21 minutes long and scored for string quartet, winds and percussion.

View perusal score here: joelpuckett.com/Puckett_Short_Stories_perusal
Part I:

1.	Somewhere near the end [tutti]
2.	Introit [quartet]
3.	The Priests [viola and cello duet]

Part II:

4.	Recitative [quartet]
5.	mother and child [violin duet]

Part III:

6.	sonno agitato [ensemble alone]
7.	The Bridge [cadenza] [quartet]
8.	Ma Fin [tutti]

Program Note

“There will come a time when you believe everything is finished;
that will be the beginning.”

— Louis L’Amour, Lonely on the Mountain

What makes the construct of the short story itself so unique among other literary devices is the demands placed on the author to create a meaningful narrative. They must describe the relationships between characters, present a conflict, and resolve it in a remarkably short span. It takes a deft writer to cleverly craft within these restrictions, and yet some have pushed the genre further by creating collections of stories that seem at first disparate, but eventually are revealed to be intertwined. Much like these painstakingly crafted works of literature, Joel Puckett’s Short Stories is a study in structure. On the surface, it bears the appearance of eight vignettes strung together into a concerto for solo string quartet and wind ensemble. Upon listening, however, the work’s movements reveal themselves as inextricably linked through a layered thematic language that plays out through a sort of “game of pairs.”

The external movements of the work serve as a frame story, not unlike Chuck Palahniuk’s novel Haunted, which the composer cites as an influential on the structure of the work. Between the external movements, Puckett presents three pairs of linked movements. Each of these sections highlights two of the solo voices, featured at the section’s conclusion with a virtuosic duo cadenza. The final internal grouping—the sixth and seventh movements—takes the independent duo cadenzas and superimposes them. It is only at this climactic moment that we hear that the concerto’s primary theme—the basis for both the first and last movements—is the combination of the elements within these cadenzas. In a sense, the entire work evolves from the constituent solo playing of its stars.

The opening—amusingly titled “Somewhere near the end”—introduces the notion of pairs in its own way. There is diametric conflict between both the soloists and the ensemble as, until the end of the movement, the two groups play almost exclusively in isolation. The harmonic language likewise poses friction, first hinting at the unbridled optimism of D major, and almost immediately thereafter shattering it with a tempestuous dissonance of extended harmonies in G minor. The effect is that of a series of dramatic wailings that set the stage for the players.

The first internal section, comprising the movements “Introit” and “The Priests,” is based on ancient liturgical materials. The introit itself is a part of the Proper of the Catholic mass, and this placid movement also presents a part of the Mass’ Ordinary by way of a “Kyrie,” passed from instrument to instrument in the movement’s center. The dramatic beginning of “The Priests” is a stark contrast with its bold chorale scored solely for brass and saxophones, and the rhythmic ostinato from the low strings (“Regina Coeli”: a reference to the antiphon to the Virgin Mary). Complex mixed meters dominate the pulse as a punchy homophonic accompaniment supports the vivid rhythms of the soloists.

The contrasting middle pairing (“Recitative” and “mother and child”) has a basis in Baroque opera, modeling a recitative and aria. “Recitative” serves mostly as an introduction, with a sparse accompaniment of vibraphone, celesta, and harp. The opening of “mother and child” expands the instrumentation to include the woodwinds and horns, dancing about gracefully with a patient, yet lilting tempo. This middle section is the longest single segment of the piece, and harmonically the most static, as it floats past slowly in a cloudy, dreamlike E-flat major. The gentle caress of the violin duet is both captivating and endearing throughout.

The tonal center of E-flat remains for the sixth movement, but little else is held as the pleasant dream of the middle section is roused by “sonno agitato”—literally, “restless sleep.” This movement, solely for the ripieno, harkens back to the most tumultuous moments of the first movement. The pulse quickens unrelentingly and the ensemble spills over, out of control, into “The Bridge,” a cadenza for the concertino. Here the previous duo cadenzas are pressed into conflict with each other in a manner that seems incompatible and dissonant. As the soloists play together, however, the argument between them is sated and they begin to find a synergy in their florid and virtuosic variations. The energetic realization of the work’s opening motive ushers in the ebullient “Ma Fin” (a nod to Machaut’s rondeau “Ma fin est mon commencement”—literally, “my beginning is my end”). This finale starts with a return to the first movement, but this time, the soloists come together as one and, with a battering of thirty-second notes, breaks through the restlessness of the ensemble and forces them back on track into the brilliant opening, finally moving together toward their happily ever afters.

—Jacob Wallace

Short Stories [string quartet concerto] UMICH LIVE

Live world premiere recording of my Concerto for Alto Saxophone. Joe Lulloff, Saxophone, Michigan State University Wind Symphony, Kevin Sedatole, conductor. 22 April, 2014, Wharton Center, MSU campus.
PDF score, program note, etc: http://www.concertoforaltosaxophone.com

The studio release of this work is now available on In This Broad Earth: Music of Steven Bryant, by the Michigan State University Wind Symphony.

Concerto for Alto Saxophone (live MSU World Premiere)

EDGES is inspired by several events in my life over the period of 1995-97.  Two are near-death experiences, while the third is the sudden passing of one of my closest colleagues and best friends, Professor Robert Cooper.  

The first movement, "BACK FROM THE EDGE", is a chronicle of the battle that I waged with "flesh-eating strep", which nearly cost me my life in spring, 1995.  A fragment of a line from French playwright Jean Genet’s “Prisoner of Love” served as additional inspiration: 

 “perhaps all music, even the newest, is not so much something discovered as something that re-emerges from where it lay in memory, inaudible as a melody cut in a disc of flesh.  A composer lets me hear a song that has always been shut up silent within me.”

In a sense, my life has re-emerged from where it lay, for a while, silent, in memory.

Movement II, "POSTCARDS", is inspired by my mentor and friend, composer Donald Erb, who had his own near-death experience about a year later in the same Ithaca, New York hospital (a bizarre coincidence).  I know that he shared many of the mental aberrations I experienced during the recovery process, and POSTCARDS reflects the strange visions, the elusive but more and more frequent moments of clarity, and the eventual return to reality that such experiences create.  For me, in retrospect, these thoughts were like vivid postcards of other realities, sent to me by another part of my mind and filtered through the pain, the fear, and the medications that I had been given.  There was also a highly obsessive quality to my thoughts during the reco-very, which is reflected in the primary melodic material which simply refuses to disappear, though it changes colors, dynamics, and tempos at every turn.

Postcards -- real postcards, that is -- also played a role in my experiences.  While recovering, I received a post card (often of questionable taste) every two or three days from Don.  When it was his turn to be in recovery, it was my turn to send him postcards (equally questionable)...they seem now to me to be a lifeline to reality from people who are eager to welcome us back.

A quote was inspirational for this second movement as well, this time from Hermann Hesse’s Damien:

“In each individual the spirit is made flesh, in each one the whole of creation suffers, in each one a Savior is crucified.”

The final movement is a reflection on the amazing, wonderful, and sometimes difficult life of my colleague, Robert Cooper.  Robert had, without a doubt, the speediest metabolism of anyone I have ever known.  Lunch with Robert could be defined as both of us eating for the first five minutes and Robert watching me finish eating for the last 45.  Robert had two computers in his office and a phone; often all three were busy at once, while he carried on at least one additional conversation with whomever was present.  Yet Robert had great depth too.  He was a living example to students and colleagues, especially in facing life’s travails with courage and conviction.  He was also funny as hell.  I suppose that Robert’s pace was impossible to sustain, and in fact he died suddenly at age 45 on September 18, 1997. 

No quotations needed with this movement.  This one’s for you, man.


EDGES Movement III OhMan for wind ensemble

EDGES Movement II Postcards for wind ensemble

EDGES Movement I Back from the Edge for wind ensemble

World Premiere by the University of Texas at Austin Wind Ensemble, Jerry Junkin, conductor.
PROGRAM NOTE and SCORE: http://www.stevenbryant.com/concertoforwindensemble.php

Video series documenting the creation of the piece: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL5B6601309A46F5BD

Concerto for Wind Ensemble (UT world premiere)

World premiere at JWECC 2009 in Okazaki City, Japan. Shintaro Fukumoto, conductor.

Program note and PDF score: http://stevenbryant.com/axismundi.php

Axis Mundi

Tokyo Kosei Wind Orchestra's performance from April 24th, 2009, Ray Cramer, conductor.
More information: http://stevenbryant.com/firstlight.php


First Light (Tokyo Kosei)

Cornell University Wind Ensemble, April, 2011. Caroline Stinson, Cello, Cynthia Johnston-Turner, conductor.
More info here: http://stevenbryant.com/concertoforcello.php

Concerto for Cello (Orchestral Winds + Percussion)

Tau Beta Sigma/Kappa Kappa Psi NIB World Premiere, July 2017.

1) Introit: Tin Riot

Symphony No. 10, Op. 93  II. Scherzo by Dmitri Shostakovich

Inspired by a trip to Disneyland, Aerodynamics describes an imaginary flight on an open-air glider. When I was in college I went on a new ride at the California Adventure theme park called "Soarin' California" during which I was suspended in the air with my legs dangling as if I were in a hang glider. I was immersed in imagery of California landscapes that zoomed by as fans blew air at me to simulate incredible speed. Even the scent of pine forests wafted through the breeze to complete the experience. This ride was so visceral and powerful to me that I went on it over and over, taking it in with excitement every time. I am fascinated by high speeds and by flight, and Aerodynamics is my musical response to these visceral experiences. Musically, Aerodynamics is focused on the ebb and flow of fluid gestures, connected by a continuous stream of quickly repeated notes that represents the wind blowing at your face. Every line is echoed and mirrored so that a simple idea expands into a wash of sound. The listener may imagine taking flight throughout the piece, dipping and swooping as the shape of the music weaves its way from high to low and from small to large. This work uses a very limited amount of material, consisting almost entirely of a repetitive two note motive and a fleeting melody. The constant underlying motion builds the energy toward the end of the piece, where a climax combines the two main musical ideas in a majestic orchestral tutti.

The orchestral performance in this set is a live recording of the Florida State University Philharmonia, Alexandra Dee conducting (http://www.alexandradee.com), February 16, 2013

The wind ensemble performance in this set is a live recording of the CCM Wind Symphony, Rodney Winther conducting, October 20, 2010

for more information, please visit http://www.rogerzare.com/aero.htm

Aerodynamics for wind ensemble (CCM Wind Symphony, Rodney Winther conducting)

Northwestern University Symphonic Wind Ensemble
conducted by Dr. Mallory Thompson
Pick-Staiger Concert Hall, Evanston IL
April 19, 2013

Symphony No. 1, My Hands Are a City

The Florida State University Chamber Winds and Women's Glee Club
Richard Clary, conductor

Opperman Music Hall, Tallahassee FL, April 11, 2013 
Dr. Judy Bowers, Music Director, University Women's Glee Club
SCALE SHIFT by Marcella Durand, used by kind permission of Belladonna* Series and Marcella Durand.


Vivid Geography

The Florida State University Wind Orchestra
Richard Clary, conductor

Ruby Diamond Concert Hall, Tallahassee FL, April 15, 2013

Sowing Useful Truths

Whirlwind is a brief, caffeinated work for winds and percussion. Developed entirely from the opening scalar gesture, the music perpetually swirls around and through the ensemble, unfurling into a bombastic climax, then abruptly dissipating into thin air.

PDF score and more: http://stevenbryant.com/whirlwind-windensemble.php


Whirlwind

Crimson Earth for Symphonic Band and Solo Violin
Duration: ca. 14'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music. http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=advanced_search_result&search_in_description=1&zenid=3699359cefb6e31676ed8d068a02c3c4&keyword=crimson+earth
View Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/crimson_earth-fs-color_cover-bound
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/crimson-earth 

PROGRAM NOTES
In Crimson Earth, my primary concerns are the exploration of exotic sonorities and textures, the spatial placement of instrumental groups and the process of moving musicians throughout the hall to create interesting textural juxtapositions.

Although no specific programmatic associations are intended in Crimson Earth, two specific references were influential: Pieter Bruegel the Elder’s gruesomely detailed painting The Triumph of Death (c. 1562), and the following short verse I came across in a book of quotations from the Old Testament (Job, Proverbs, 24):

"He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting."

When I was a child, my father introduced me to Breugel’s work and to the work of other imaginative painters from the 15th and 16th centuries, such as Hieronymus Bosch. I think what originally inspired me the most about this particular work by Breugel was how something so morbid and seemingly prophetic could have been painted hundreds of years ago, before some of the worst wars occurred in the history of the world. Of course, I could not help but think to myself, what would a battle as horrifying as the one in Bruegel’s painting sound like?

Perhaps more importantly, what sounds do we associate with battles? The sounds that came to my mind for this piece were drums, trumpets, sirens and explosions, all represented in this highly programmatic work. The combination of winds, brass and percussion seemed to be the perfect vehicle to capture the horrific sounds and gut-turning feelings one might experience during a battle. The only other sounds I needed were instrumental voices meant to represent the sounds of both ignorance and innocence. The sound of a solo violin and a solo flute seemed most appropriate, and these instruments end up framing the entire work.

In this work, I attempt to depict a battle in three connected scenes: armies emerging from far away, an ensuing destructive, chaotic battle and the armies’ final departure. Three marching ?battalions? of military drum and trumpet duos represent the armies. These duos gradually convene toward the stage; the stage represents a battlefield. Once there, a battle begins in which a mostly non-pitched percussion section is highlighted through the use of battle-like sounds. As previously mentioned, two "solos" frame the three middle sections: one on a violin and the other as a duo with flute and violin. (The option of playing the violin part on an oboe is given in the score.) The whole work is essentially in a loose arch form.

The title, Crimson Earth, refers to the bloody color of the earth after battle and the power and heroism people often associate with the color red. However, although many cultures have glorified wars and battles, this is not my goal in this work. Crimson Earth represents the profound sadness that wars ultimately cause, but this work also tries to represent hope.

Part I

• (Violin Solo)
• Melting Chimes of Starlight
• Remembrance of Long Ago Idyllic Youth
• Mini Trumpet Bats, Descending
• Rising Darkness
• Brief Sky Opening, Cry for Absolution

Part II

• Calm before the Storm: Glimpses of Despair
• Three Battalions approach from Afar
• War Sirens
• Battle
• Swells of Sadness
• Three Battalions Retreat
• Ashen Rainbows

Part III

• Memorial to the Sacrificial Dead
• Deserts of Ruin
• Breaths of The Everlasting Rising Phoenix
• Peace Wish

Crimson Earth (for Symphonic Band)

My flute concerto, The Shadow of Sirius, in a fantastic live performance by the University of Texas Wind Ensemble, Jerry Junkin conducting and Marianne Gedigian, flute soloist.

Find out more: www.joelpuckett.com/shadow.html

[To buy a fantastic studio recording of this work, follow the itunes link.]

Program note: 
I have always found comfort in poetry. While in school, I was the guy with a collection of Bukowski under one arm and a collection 
of Yeats under the other. I have always enjoyed the rhythm of other people’s thoughts and feelings.

In the winter of 2009, my wife and I experienced a heartbreak that left me unsure of how to even breathe, let alone grieve. 
On March 1st, 2009, I found a copy of W.S. Merwin’s, The Shadow of Sirius, and I began to feel myself heal. I have almost no idea 
what most of this poetry means. But I know that it fills me with a profound sadness that is, at the same time, brimming with hope.
I recently heard Mr. Merwin discussing the origin of the title of his collection. He related that scientists have discovered that the star 
known as Sirius is actually a star system. What looks to our eye like a single object is actually many. Merwin found himself 
wondering what is on the other side of Sirus, lying in its shadow.
A friend once said to me, “many concerti explore a virtuosity of technique but not many explore a virtuosity of expression.” It was 
with that thought in mind that I began work on my, The Shadow of Sirius, for solo flute and wind orchestra.

Each movement offers my reflection on a single Merwin poem from the collection. Although the work is played without pause, the 
soloist plays unaccompanied solos to separates the individual movements. 

A consortium of American wind ensembles led by Michael Haithcock and the University of Michigan commissioned The Shadow of Sirius. The work is dedicated to the fantastic Amy Porter.

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the Copper Press, which has granted permission to reprint W.S. Merwin’s poetry. All poems 
Copyright 2008 by W.S. Merwin. More information about this poetry can be found at www.coppercanyonpress.com.