Fandangos

From Wind Repertory Project
Roberto Sierra

Roberto Sierra (trans. Mark Davis Scatterday)


General Info

Year: 2001
Duration: c. 11:25
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Subito Music
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental   |   Score Only - $40.00


Instrumentation

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

  • Bass Drum
  • Castanets
  • Cencerros
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Marimba
  • Snare Drum
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Tambourine
  • Tam-Tam
  • Tom-Tom (6)
  • Triangle
  • Vibraphone
  • Wood Block
  • Xylophone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Antonio Soler’s Fandango for keyboard has always fascinated me, for its strange and whimsical twists and turns. My Fandangos is a fantasy, or a “super-fandango,” that takes as point of departure Soler’s work and incorporates elements of the Boccherini’s Fandango and my own Baroque musings. Some of the oddities in the harmonic structure of the Soler piece provided a bridge for the incorporation of contemporary sonorities, opening windows to apparently alien sound worlds. In these parenthetical commentaries, the same materials heard before are transformed, as if one would look at the same objects through different types of lenses or prisms. The continuous variation form over an ostinato bass gave me the chance to use complex orchestration techniques as another element for variation.

- Program Note by composer


Fandangos (2000) was commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and conductor, Leonard Slatkin. It received its premiere on February 28, 2001, at the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.

The work is based on the Fandango for Harpsichord by Antonio Soler, an 18th Century Spanish composer. The piece is not a mere orchestration but rather a fantasy based on Soler’s work. The piece is based largely on Soler’s Fandango, which Sierra says has always fascinated him. He describes his composition as “a fantasy, or a ‘super-fandango,’ that takes as point of departure Soler’s work and incorporates elements of Boccherini’s fandango and my own Baroque musings.”

The piece begins with a rhapsodic introduction but soon acquires a steady rhythmic pulse and strong tonal profile. The latter provides a short sequence of recurring harmonies that underlies nearly the entire work. The music is seductively melodious, and its scoring, with castanets, tambourines, and imitations of guitar strumming, creates a strong Spanish flavor. However, from time to time, the work falls into a different idiom, one very much of our own era. Such diversions are always short lived, the fandango music quickly emerging and continuing on its way. Sierra notes that “in these parenthetical commentaries, the same materials heard before are transformed, as if one would look at the same objects through different types of lenses or prisms.” It may seem that these lenses or prisms are distorted, but the brief views they provide are fascinating.

- Program note courtesy of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • New England Conservatory (Boston, MA.) Wind Ensemble (Mary Schneider, conductor) 15 February 2024
  • Chicago (Ill.) College of Performing Arts Wind Ensemble (Stephen Squires, conductor) - 25 October 2023
  • San Jose (Calif.) Wind Symphony (Troy Davis, conductor) - 4 December 2022
  • Valley Winds (Pioneer Valley, Mass.) (Brian Messier, conductor) - 13 November 2022
  • United States Marine Band (Washington, D.C.) (JoAnn Falletta, conductor) – 17 February 2020
  • University of Cincinnati (Ohio) College-Conservatory of Music Wind Symphony (Mark Scatterday, conductor) – 7 February 2020
  • University of California (Berkeley) Wind Ensemble (Matthew Sadowski, conductor) - 6 December 2019
  • Indiana University (Bloomington) Wind Ensemble (Jason H. Nam, conductor) – 5 November 2019
  • University of Colorado (Boulder) Wind Symphony (Donald McKinney, conductor) - 19 September 2019
  • Lawrence University (Appleton, Wisc.) Wind Ensemble (Andrew Mast, conductor) – 13 October 2018
  • University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Symphony Band (Michael Haithcock, conductor) – 9 March 2018
  • University of Southern California Thornton Wind Ensemble (H. Robert Reynolds, conductor) - 9 February 2018
  • Eastman Wind Ensemble (Rochester, N.Y.) (Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor) – 26 February 2016
  • Illinois State University (Normal) Wind Symphony (Martin H. Seggelke, conductor) – 2 October 2015
  • San Francisco Wind Ensemble (Mark Scatterday, conductor) - 2 March 2013
  • The Eastman Wind Ensemble (Rochester N.Y.) (Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor) – 26 February 2005 (CBDNA 2005 National Conference, New York, N.Y.)


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • The Horizon Leans Forward…, compiled and edited by Erik Kar Jun Leung, GIA Publications, 2021, p. 473.
  • Roberto Sierra website Accessed 17 September 2017
  • Seggelke, Martin H. "Fandango." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 6, edit. & comp. by Richard Miles, 809-816. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2007.
  • Sierra, R.; Scatterday, M. (2001). Fandangos [score]. Subito Music: [United States].