Astrarium
General Info
Year: 2015
Duration: c. 5:20
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Peter Van Zandt Lane
Cost: Score and Parts - $250.00 | Score Only - $50.00
Instrumentation
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
- Temple Blocks
- Tam Tam
- Tom-Toms (3)
- Tubular Bells (Chimes)
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
I think of this piece as a fantasy, with a very short, heroic brass fanfare wedged in the center of a larger, more ornamented musical frame. I began sketches for Astrarium in June 2014 while on a residency at MacDowell Colony, an arts colony in Peterborough, New Hampshire. In the studios at MacDowell, it has become customary for artists to sign their names on planks of wood, keeping a log of each studio’s history of visiting artists. Coincidentally, I came across Joseph Schwantner’s name in my studio, dated 1978, and discovered that he had composed a song cycle in the same room more than 35 years earlier. I couldn’t help but use a small quote from his piece in mine; thus, the opening vocal phrase of Schwantner’s cycle Wild Angels of the Open Hills makes a subtle appearance as an oboe solo in Astrarium, and is later used as the subject for a fugue section just after the fanfare.
The title refers to a complex astronomical clock invented by Giovanni de’ Dondi in the 14th century, one of the earliest contraptions resembling mechanisms of modern clocks. The more I thought about connecting my own musical ideas to an earlier time and place –- perhaps to Schwantner three-and-a-half decades ago, or to myself playing bassoon in Nikk Pilato’s wind ensemble as a freshman in high school -– the more the sonic imagery of clockwork became central to the piece.
Astrarium was composed for the Emory University Wind Ensemble, at the request of my friend and former teacher, Nikk Pilato. The piece was commissioned as a concert opener for the premiere of Joseph Schwantner’s Concerto for Wind Orchestra.
- Program Note by composer
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Penn State University (University Park) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Tonya Mitchell-Spradlin, conductor) - 11 Novemberr 2023
- University of Utah (Salt Lake City) Wind Ensemble (Rebekah Daniel, conductor) - 20 April 2022
- United States Air Force Band (Washington, D.C.) (Christina Muncey, conductor) - 6 March 2020 (86th Annual ABA National Convention)
- Osakan Philharmonic Winds (Osaka, Japan) (Tomo Matsuo, conductor) - 21 December 2019 (2019 Midwest Clinic)
- University of Florida (Gainesville) Symphonic Band (John M. Watkins, Jr., conductor) – 21 November 2019
- Michigan State University (East Lansing) Symphony Band (David Thornton, conductor) – 22 October 2019
- McLennan College (Waco, Tx.) Wind Ensemble (Jon Conrad, conductor) 10 October 2019
- Tulsa (Okla.) University Wind Ensemble (Richard Wagner, conductor) – 23 March 2018 (CBDNA 2018 Southwestern Conference, Houston, Texas)
- University of Georgia (Athens) Hodgson Wind Symphony (Bradley J. Esau, conductor) – 22 March 2017
- University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire Wind Symphony (John R. Stewart, conductor) - 18 November 2016
- University of Oklahoma Symphony Band (Ryan Lipscomb, conductor) – 14 November 2016
- Hartt Wind Ensemble (West Hartford, Conn.) (Glen Adsit, conductor) – 11 March 2016 (CBDNA 2016 Eastern Division Conference, New London, Conn.)
- University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Wind Ensemble (J. Thomas Seddon, conductor) – 27 February 2016 (CBDNA 2016 North Central Division Conference, Ames, Iowa)
- Emory University (Atlanta, Ga.) Wind Ensemble (Nikk Pilato, conductor) - 24 April 2015 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Ascendant Cycles (2023)
- Astrarium 2015
- Beacons 2017
- Chansonnier (as transcriber) (2018)
- Echo Chambers (2019)
- Hivemind 2014
- /ping/ (2016)
- Radix Tyrannis (2017)
- Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly (2023)
- Slant Apparatus 2010
- Violin Concerto in D Major (as transcriber) (1878/2020)