Cantos Ceremoniales

Angelo Sormani

Subtitle: For Saxophone Quartet and Symphonic Band

General Info

Year: 2008
Duration: c. 12:50
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Scomegna Edizioni Musicali
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - €214.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Solo Saxophone Quartet (SATB)
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone (optional)
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
E-flat Cornet/Flugelhorn (optional)
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
E-flat Horn or Alto I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium/Tenorhorn
Tuba I-II
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Bass Drum
Claves
Crash Cymbals (2)
Crotales
Glockenspiel
Guiro
Ride Cymbal
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tambourine
Tam-Tam
Tom-Tom
Triangle
Vibraphone
Whip
Wind Chimes
Wood Block

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

The piece pays homage to the great Chilean writer Pablo Neruda, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature and a tireless campaigner for peace and justice. Neruda’s life spanned most of the twentieth century and witnessed several critical events that marked the century: the Spanish Civil War, the Cold War, the liberation movement in Latin America and the death of Salvador Allende. His poetry and commitment to liberty and equality knew no borders. He transformed poetry into national festivities and brought a spirit to songs to benefit all and sundry.

Cantos Ceremoniales is the title of a work finished by Neruda in 1961. Together with another work entitled Canto General, the poet expresses all those difficult situations and circumstances man is forced to confront, but also the sense of hope, respect and love towards fellow mankind. The composition was written for a wind orchestra and saxophone quartet – unusual for its genre. It draws attention to the four solo instruments and their integration with the orchestra as a whole: symbolically, they begin positioned in different places on stage and then, as they begin to play, take center stage together with the orchestra as the concert begins.

The piece develops around two different themes: the first suspended and unconfined, the second rhythmic and marked. These two settings create musical strains and paths that alternate, resulting in distension (Quasi Sospeso) and tension (Tumultuoso). The initial relentless lament by the saxophones, seeming almost a ceremonial canto, is followed by a series of plays on rhythm involving both soloists and the various sections of the band. The nature of these fragments and the alternating moments of suspension and tension give the listener the sensation that events are flowing in distinct separate phases yet part of a common whole. The finale features a constant solemn recurring restrain, symbolically in “stretto”, to end the piece on a note of enduring hope in the future.

- Program Note from publisher

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Philadelphia (Penn.) Wind Symphony (Paul Bryan, conductor) – 20 March 2017
San Marco Wind Band & Quartetto di Sassofoni ARCADIA (Messina, Sicily) (Salvatore Crimaldi, conductor) - 2012

Works for Winds by This Composer

Resources

Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Angelo Sormani." Accessed 10 August 2017
Perusal score