Reflets laurentiens Concerto for clarinet, saxophone and orchestra
EFLETS LAURENTIENS, concerto for clarinet, saxophone and orchestra
, enriches the repertoire of the clarinet and saxophone as solo instruments in a same setting. “This is still a very rare combination of two solo wind instruments of different tone colours played by the same artist.” - Gerald Corey, National Arts
Centre Orchestra Source of inspiration: The Laurentian nature
Succinct presentation: The Concerto’s movements take their titles from paintings by Montréal painter T. K. Thomas, who is Maya’s uncle:
I. October Sky (clarinet & orchestra), based on an energetic giocoso thematic idea, is ingeniously developed, including different colours of the orchestra in combination with the soloist. Andante serves as a gentle oasis that leads to the
Cadenza a tre. A brilliant accelerando thrusts the musicians into the Tempo Primo.
II. Lake in the Laurentians (saxophone & orchestra) is, in contrast, orchestrated intimately with timpani, percussion, and strings as the only accompaniment
supporting the saxophone. The calmness is a reflection of Badian’s impressions of this lake’s static beauty.
III. Laurentian Rapids (clarinet & orchestra) has the soloist perform on the clarinet as in the first movement, the clarinet symmetrically surrounding the
novel use of the saxophone as a solo instrument. This final movement, filled with an evocative and mysterious rumbling, has an almost cinematic feeling and gives the soloist ample possibilities for solstice abandon. A recollection of this movement’s calm leads to an unexpected and unique percussion solo.
A short solo Cadenza of the solo clarinet prepares the orchestra for a brief brilliant coda marked Allegro.
At the final bar, Maya Badian writes "improvisation libre" - so the clarinettist creates his own interpretation to brilliantly put the closing touch to this colourful
Concerto.” - Professor Gerald E. Corey.
____________________________________________
II. Lake in Laurentians by T.K. Thomas
The middle section
III. Laurentian Rapids by T.K.Thomas
“Reflets laurentiens, concerto pour clarinette, saxophone et orchestre de Maya Badian, est une œuvre résolument moderne, à laquelle nous croyons; c’est assurément une musique à laquelle sa maturité va valoir une place de choix au grand répertoire.”
- Le nouvelliste, Mozart s’impose et Badian impressionne par Roland Héroux, le 9 novembre 1994.

Clarinet Concerto: I. October Sky by Maya Badian

Program Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010:
“The GUITAR CONCERTO by Maya Badian is unique in Romanian musical history, acknowledged as the first Guitar Concerto ever composed in Romania.
Maria Livia Sao Marcos Fisch (1938-), a Brazilian virtuoso guitarist now living in Switzerland, commissioned to Maya Badian this Concerto.
The individual character of each of the three contrasting movements of Badian’s Guitar Concerto is clearly suggested by each movement’s title: I.- Moto perpetuo; II.- Aria;  III.- Marcia e Toccata.
Movement I, Moto perpetuo. The ambiance for the first entrance of the guitar is established by a syncopated solo trumpet rhythmic figure and a trialogue between solo trumpet, horn, and trombone sustained by string pizzicati. The solo guitar then develops the opening idea with an accompaniment that gradually involves the full orchestra. The solo guitar part is set apart from the orchestra not only melodically but also harmonically, rhythmically, and by its tone colour variety and shifting registrations. The economic use of the initial material in the orchestral part makes use of diverse musical parameters and composition techniques to maintain the unity while leaving the solo guitar clear and unobstructed.
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Cantabile, a short and contrasting section, features only the guitar and a solo pizzicato double-bass, while the maracas and castanets provide timbre colour. The full orchestra, without solo guitar, concludes the first movement in a return to Tempo primo, presenting the material based on the initial rhythmic figure. Regarding the solo guitar, it rests until the very last bar, when its chord laissez vibrer makes a bridge to the slow movement.
Movement II, Aria. A song-like theme presented by guitar makes use of the full range of the instrument, from deep and resonant low notes to the extreme of the high register. The long-held phrases poetically wander into fantasia-like passages of great beauty. The tender harmonic support offered by the strings pulses beneath the solo guitar. The accompaniment continues with the development of the song-like theme. The solo guitar briefly returns to the opening mood before a long string passage closes the movement, perdendosi. After listening to Badian’s Guitar Concerto, writer Andrée Laurier described this Aria as the “unforgettable second movement.” (Composing a home away from home. Maya Badian’s swift pen” by Andrée Laurier, The Canadian Composer, February 1989, p. 26).
Movement III, Marcia e Toccata, features two rhythmic characteristics: binary (Marcia) and ternary (Toccata).
The opening Marcia, a caricature-like march, evokes special moods similar to those of German composer Kurt Weil. The brasses are again present to outline the melodic sense of the opening. Harmonic and sharp rhythmic motion precede the entrance of the solo guitar, which restates the opening march, accompanied by castanets, viola and violoncello soli. The full orchestra completes the March section ending before the solo violin performs a short phrase in a free form. This leads (subito attacca) to the final section, Toccata.
The final movement’s Toccata opens from afar, misterioso, with solo guitar and pizzicato double-bass in perpetual motion of eigth- notes in a ternary rhythm. Gradually, all the strings borrow this motive. While maintaining the rhythm, a dialogue begins between the solo guitar and different sections of the orchestra. At some points, binary-march references in the brass contrast with the flowing ternary rhythm in the strings. Percussion links together the differing rhythmic patterns. This dialogue’s development increases in intensity, using diminution, and rhythmic energy created by syncopated accents. This contrasts with the solo guitar cadenza that follows.
The Concerto ends in a burst of energy tutti, reaching its conclusion in a brilliant flourish.”

Guitar Concerto: III. Marcia E Toccata by Maya Badian

rogram Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010:
“The GUITAR CONCERTO by Maya Badian is unique in Romanian musical history, acknowledged as the first Guitar Concerto ever composed in Romania.
Maria Livia Sao Marcos Fisch (1938-), a Brazilian virtuoso guitarist now living in Switzerland, commissioned to Maya Badian this Concerto.
The individual character of each of the three contrasting movements of Badian’s Guitar Concerto is clearly suggested by each movement’s title: I.- Moto perpetuo; II.- Aria;  III.- Marcia e Toccata.
Movement I, Moto perpetuo. The ambiance for the first entrance of the guitar is established by a syncopated solo trumpet rhythmic figure and a trialogue between solo trumpet, horn, and trombone sustained by string pizzicati. The solo guitar then develops the opening idea with an accompaniment that gradually involves the full orchestra. The solo guitar part is set apart from the orchestra not only melodically but also harmonically, rhythmically, and by its tone colour variety and shifting registrations. The economic use of the initial material in the orchestral part makes use of diverse musical parameters and composition techniques to maintain the unity while leaving the solo guitar clear and unobstructed.
 53
Cantabile, a short and contrasting section, features only the guitar and a solo pizzicato double-bass, while the maracas and castanets provide timbre colour. The full orchestra, without solo guitar, concludes the first movement in a return to Tempo primo, presenting the material based on the initial rhythmic figure. Regarding the solo guitar, it rests until the very last bar, when its chord laissez vibrer makes a bridge to the slow movement.
Movement II, Aria. A song-like theme presented by guitar makes use of the full range of the instrument, from deep and resonant low notes to the extreme of the high register. The long-held phrases poetically wander into fantasia-like passages of great beauty. The tender harmonic support offered by the strings pulses beneath the solo guitar. The accompaniment continues with the development of the song-like theme. The solo guitar briefly returns to the opening mood before a long string passage closes the movement, perdendosi. After listening to Badian’s Guitar Concerto, writer Andrée Laurier described this Aria as the “unforgettable second movement.” (Composing a home away from home. Maya Badian’s swift pen” by Andrée Laurier, The Canadian Composer, February 1989, p. 26).
Movement III, Marcia e Toccata, features two rhythmic characteristics: binary (Marcia) and ternary (Toccata).
The opening Marcia, a caricature-like march, evokes special moods similar to those of German composer Kurt Weil. The brasses are again present to outline the melodic sense of the opening. Harmonic and sharp rhythmic motion precede the entrance of the solo guitar, which restates the opening march, accompanied by castanets, viola and violoncello soli. The full orchestra completes the March section ending before the solo violin performs a short phrase in a free form. This leads (subito attacca) to the final section, Toccata.
The final movement’s Toccata opens from afar, misterioso, with solo guitar and pizzicato double-bass in perpetual motion of eigth- notes in a ternary rhythm. Gradually, all the strings borrow this motive. While maintaining the rhythm, a dialogue begins between the solo guitar and different sections of the orchestra. At some points, binary-march references in the brass contrast with the flowing ternary rhythm in the strings. Percussion links together the differing rhythmic patterns. This dialogue’s development increases in intensity, using diminution, and rhythmic energy created by syncopated accents. This contrasts with the solo guitar cadenza that follows.
The Concerto ends in a burst of energy tutti, reaching its conclusion in a brilliant flourish.”

Guitar Concerto: II. Aria by Maya Badian

Guitar Concerto: I. Moto Perpetuo by Maya Badian

Program Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010: "The French violin virtuoso Jean-Jacques Kantorow (1945-) commissioned Maya Badian to compose a violin concerto, taking in consideration his virtuosity. In immediately accepting this commission to compose a 20th-century concerto for violin, Badian considered that it would be joining a huge and well-known body of existing repertoire.
The VIOLIN CONCERTO by Maya Badian is cast in a three-movement form:
I.- Prelude; II.- Fugue and Choral; III.- Sonata -, blending unusual fantasia-like cadenzas with a fugue, and ending with a contemporary sonata finale. The result is a virtuoso concerto for the solo violinist with fascinating orchestral components.
III.- Finale, Allegro giocoso e spirituoso, the third and last movement. Under the brilliant dance-like solo violin subject, the piano presents a staccato chromatic descending line in its lowest register accompanied by cellos and double-basses pizzicati. After this opening, there is a bridge passage featuring a powerful rhythmic piano figure combined with the original violin subject now presented by the orchestra. An ad libitum passage for the solo violin prepares the second subject that, based on long held notes and smooth phrases, contrasts with the first subject. On closer examination, this subject, presented by the entire orchestra, is both an augmentation and a mirror of the melodic and rhythmic opening subject. It becomes an aural puzzle for the listener. The development is replaced in this work by a brief interlude assigned to the percussion section, reminding the listener of the fugal material from the second movement and thus connecting this sonata with the previous movements. At this point, the recapitulation contains an orchestral distillation of all of the elements earlier presented in this movement. The conclusion of the entire Concerto is structured in two sections - the first movement, cadenza, now orchestrated as a dialogue between different instruments, followed by the formal fugal material presented superimposed and brilliantly blended, by both the solo violin and the orchestra.”

Violin Concerto: III. Sonata by Maya Badian

Program Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010: "The French violin virtuoso Jean-Jacques Kantorow (1945-) commissioned Maya Badian to compose a violin concerto, taking in consideration his virtuosity. In immediately accepting this commission to compose a 20th-century concerto for violin, Badian considered that it would be joining a huge and well-known body of existing repertoire.
The VIOLIN CONCERTO by Maya Badian is cast in a three-movement form:
I.- Prelude; II.- Fugue and Choral; III.- Sonata -, blending unusual fantasia-like cadenzas with a fugue, and ending with a contemporary sonata finale. The result is a virtuoso concerto for the solo violinist with fascinating orchestral components..

II.- FUGUE AND CHORAL, the second movement, is a strict, classically structured Fugue in Allegro (reminiscent of Badian’s Chamber Concerto for Horn and Percussion), followed by a Choral in Adagio, molto legato, molto espressivo, and concluding with a Coda in Allegro. The timpani present the Fugue’s subject (based on a minor third), answered first by marimba (based on a major third), and then by tom-toms (undetermined pitches). At this point, the solo instrument makes its appearance with a dramatic vox vagans (ethereal voice). The movement continues with a counter-exposition using sequential statements of the theme in the low strings and based on the minor third, while the solo violin continues its ethereal voice in a high register. The high strings and orchestral percussion join and build together in a crescendo that finally pauses with a fermata. Rather than using a traditional development, Badian introduces here a surprising feature in the form of a lovely brass Choral. The vox vagans violin solo continues to soar above the brass instruments’ smooth passage. This leads to an extended Coda, a unifying full orchestral restatement of the fugal material, conceived as a blend of all the thematic material presented in this movement.

Violin Concerto: II. Fugue by Maya Badian

Program Note:
Quote from, “Maya Badian, Her Life and Her Music: A Privilege to Soar” by Popovici, Fred, published by Pro Ars Publications, Ottawa, Canada, 2010: "The French violin virtuoso Jean-Jacques Kantorow (1945-) commissioned Maya Badian to compose a violin concerto, taking in consideration his virtuosity. In immediately accepting this commission to compose a 20th-century concerto for violin, Badian considered that it would be joining a huge and well-known body of existing repertoire.
The VIOLIN CONCERTO by Maya Badian is cast in a three-movement form:

I.- Prelude; II.- Fugue and Choral; III.- Sonata -, blending unusual fantasia-like cadenzas with a fugue, and ending with a contemporary sonata finale. The result is a virtuoso concerto for the solo violinist with fascinating orchestral components.
I.- PRELUDE, the first movement, is introduced by a solo cadenza, ad libitum, unusually coupled with timpani, and continues with a dialogue between alto-saxophone and the solo violin. This dialogue is a reflection of the introduction and is based on a free retrograde inversion of the thematic material in the cadenza. It is orchestrated with a parallel dialogue/trialogue between three orchestral groups - the strings, the brass, and the woodwinds. The strings enter first, followed by the brass and finally the woodwinds. The central portion of this opening movement is based on the idea of mixing polyphony with heterophony. As it develops, thematic material recalling the initial cadenza is used in the polyphonic texture. A closing cadenza, mirroring the opening cadenza, features again the solo instrument but this time accompanied by a snare-drum instead of the timpani.

Violin Concerto: I. Prelude by Maya Badian

Marimba & Vibraphone Concerto: III. Prepetuum Mobile by Maya Badian

Marimba & Vibraphone Concerto: II. Aria by Maya Badian

Marimba & Vibraphone Concerto: I. Preludio by Maya Badian

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.

New tracks tagged #Original Concerto Music