Canvas

George Walker

General Info

Year: 2000
Duration: c. 19:20
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: MMB Music
Cost: Score and Parts - Unknown

Movements

1. Extract 1: Landscape, "The View Below" - 6:55
2. Extract 2: Commentary, "Voices in the corridor" – 5:10
3. Extract 3: Psalm, "The Horizon and Beyond" – 7:20

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II-III
Alto Flute
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
C Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Tuba
String Bass
Harp
Celeste
Timpani
Percussion, including:

Anvil
Bass Drum
Castanets
Chimes
Claves
Glockenspiel
Maracas
Marimba
Roto-toms
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tambourine
Tam-Tam
Temple Blocks
Timbales
Triangle
Vibraphone
Wind Chimes (glass)
Wood Block
Xylophone

SATB Choir

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Canvas, which is dedicated to Walker's parents, is comprised of three substantial movements that can be performed together or separately. Extract 1, Landscape ("The View Below") is composed for winds alone. Extract II, Commentary ("Voices in the Corridor") utilizes five narrators in addition to winds. Extract III, Psalm 121 ("The Horizon and Beyond") is composed for SATB choir and winds.

Canvas is an extremely challenging work due to the nature of Walker's complex pointillistic scoring and rhythmic sophistication, the coordination of the narrators, and the difficult of the divided choral parts. Walker considers Canvas considerably more complicated than Lilacs, for which he won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Music. He states, "I have expended an enormous amount of time and thought on it, more than any work in years."

- Program Note from Teaching Music Through Performance in Band

Media

Audio CD: North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) - 2001

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

State University of New York, Potsdam, Crane Wind Ensemble (Brian K. Doyle, conductor) - 11 April 2022
University of North Texas (Denton) Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor; North Texas A Capella Choir) – 22 February 2001 (CBDNA 2001 National Conference, Denton, Tx.) *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Canvas (2000)
Concerto for Trombone (arr. Simpson) (1957)
Wind Set (1999)

Resources

George Walker website Accessed 3 April 2021
The Horizon Leans Forward…, compiled and edited by Erik Kar Jun Leung, GIA Publications, 2021, p. 507.
Miles, Richard B., and Larry Blocher. 2002. Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Volume 4. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 755-763.
Nelson, Ryan. " Octatonic Pitch Structure and Motivic Organization in George Walker's Canvas For Wind Ensemble, Voices And Chorus." DMA Dissertation, University of North Texas, 2003.
Walker, G. (2000). Canvas : wind ensemble, voices, and chorus (2000 rev. 2001) [score]. MMB Music: St. Louis, Mo.