Designs, Images, and Textures

From Wind Repertory Project
Leslie Bassett

Leslie Bassett


Subtitle: Five Pieces for Concert Band


General Info

Year: 1966
Duration: c. 11:00
Difficulty: VII (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: C. F. Peters
Cost: Rental | Full score $20.50


Movements

  1. Oil Painting
  2. Water Color
  3. Pen and Ink Drawing
  4. Mobile
  5. Bronze Sculpture


Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet (9 players)
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
B-flat Trumpet (6 players)
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium I-II
Tuba I-II
Piano
Timpani
Percussion (3 players), including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Bongos (4) (or Temple Blocks)
  • Crash Cymbal
  • Glockenspiel
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbals (2: small and large)
  • Tambourine
  • Tam-Tam
  • Triangle
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

In at least one respect, Designs, Images and Textures is similar to Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition -- it invites the listener to associate music with visual art. Such association is by no means a requirement for intelligent and perceptive listening, since music, as we all know, is never sufficiently graphic to allow widespread agreement on what the true visual image might be. Yet, at the same time, there is no denying that some guide to listening, even if it be beyond the limits of the work itself, can be of real benefit to the layman.

This composition relates to five kinds of modern art. The first movement, entitled Oil Painting, opens with a brilliant ascending cascade of overlapping lines, followed by an ascending pyramid of sounds. Trills and numerous other textures and shapes appear, but the movement stabilizes tonally as it progresses toward the close.

The second movement, Water Color, opens with clusters of quiet and indistinct sounds that overlap one another. The primary figures of the movement emerge briefly and the movement ends quietly with the blurred sounds.

The third movement, Pen and Ink Drawing, consists, as one might expect, of numerous independent lines. Gradually the number of lines diminishes and the content of the movement becomes clear.

A Mobile provides the associative image for the fourth movement. Rustling, breathy sounds serve as background. Eventually the many-faceted central part of the piece (the mobile itself, a large metallic abstract) dominates the music, then returns to the rustling of the opening.

The final movement, entitled Bronze Sculpture, emphasizes the brasses of the band and the more shrill registers of the other instruments. Brilliant in sonority and extended in range and expressive means, this movement is the most incisive and rhythmically varied of the five.

The pieces are unified by several prominent recurring tonal levels, as well as numerous other musical factors. The low tuba Bb, for example, so prominent in the first movement, is found at the opening and the close of the final movement, as well as elsewhere. The horn notes closing the second and third movements are the same. The last movement opens and closes with all 12 pitches, arranged in ascending fifths a minor third apart, with the piano C a primary factor. Numerous other instances of recurring pitch levels abound. Several small melodic cells or directional patterns are present in larger melodic lines throughout the work. These undergo almost continuous change.

- Program Note by composer


This highly imaginative and creative work attempts to relate to five types of modern art through musical expression.

1. Oil Painting (Fast, 4/4) opens with brilliant flowing lines rhythmically overlapping, followed by cluster chords and several short motives.

2. Water Color (Moderate, 2/2): a slow, quiet piece using cluster chords and two short melodic ideas, both of which use overlapping.

3. Pen And Ink Drawing (Slow, 4/4), composed of numerous rhythmically independent lines, scored in small-group and choir settings.

4. Mobile (Moderately fast, 3/4) uses breathy sounds (flutes, low-register elements) and rustling sounds (suspended cymbal, fingers on piano strings, muted brass trills), gradually focusing on several distinct musical ideas, only to return to the rustling sound of the opening.

5. Bronze Sculpture (Fast, 4/4): a brilliant many-faceted movement with great rhythmic complexity (e.g., irregular entrances after 16th rests, syncopations of varying lengths, etc.).

This is a difficult and challenging work, both technically and musically, requiring aural sophistication through its use of dissonance, clusters and serial techniques - but worth exploring by advanced groups.

- Program Note from Music for the Concert Band


Commissioned by and dedicated to the Ithaca (N.Y.) High School Band, Frank Battisti, conductor.


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • New England Conservatory (Boston, Mass.) Wind Ensemble (Charles Peltz, conductor) – 10 October 2019


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • Bassett, L. (1966). Designs, Images and Textures: Five Pieces for Concert Band [score]. C.F. Peters: New York.
  • Leslie Bassett website Accessed 4 October 2019
  • Krienes, J.; Hansbrough, R. (2014). Music for Concert Band: A Selective Annotated Guide to Band Literature. Meredith Music Publications: Delray Beach, Fla.; pp. 90.