Music for Winds

Stanisław Skrowaczewski

General Info

Year: 2009
Duration: c. 21:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Schott Music
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental

Movements (played without pause)

1. Misterioso - 5:50
2. Aria - 6:00
3. Presto Tenebroso - 3:25
4. Molto Allegro - 5:05

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II-III (II doubling Alto Flute; III doubling Piccolo)
Oboe I-II-III
Bassoon I-II-III (III doubles Contrabassoon)
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III (III doubling B-flat Bass Clarinet)
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II-III
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Harp
Piano/Celesta
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III, including:

Bongos
Cymbals
Chimes
Glockenspiel
Marimba
Tambourine
Tom-Tom
Temple Blocks
Vibraphone
Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

For Music for Winds I was commissioned by a consortium of nine orchestras in four countries (the United States, Germany, Austria, and Japan). The initiator of this project is Dr. Frederick Harris, director of the wind orchestra at MIT in Boston. He knew that I had long since wanted to write a kind of symphony or concerto for winds, or more precisely for symphonic winds, the wind instruments that appear in the symphonies of the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries, from Beethoven to Shostakovich and beyond. The repertoire for the instruments is rather scarce, compared to the great repertoire for strings. I added three saxophones, of which two are less common and less often played, soprano and baritone saxophone. They enrich the wind section by extending the possibilities of sound quality; and to that I brought in percussion, very gently along with piano, celesta, and harp.

- Program Note by Composer

The work has four movements, which continue from one to the next without pause. There is a primary theme played at the beginning by clarinet and celesta, and this weaves itself through all four movements, either in its original form or slightly modified. The listener may find the character or tone of the piece to be sad, mysterious, or even tragic. This could be my own reaction to the state of our world, in which great art is slowly disappearing and being replaced by superficial semiculture.

Composed in 2009, this virtuosic four-movement work is surely one of the most important additions to the repertoire of the past fifty years.

- Program Note by Tim Reynish

Awards

Music for Winds has been recommended as interesting, serious and distinctive music by members of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE).

Media

Audio: Reference recording. North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor)
Audio CD: North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) - 2014

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Mallory Thompson, conductor) - 27 January 2023
Boston (Mass.) Conservatory at Berklee (Matthew Marsit, conductor) - 10 March 2022
New England Conservatory (Boston, Mass.) Wind Ensemble (Charles Peltz, conductor) – 16 April 2019
University of Missouri, Kansas City, Wind Symphony (Steven D. Davis, conductor) – 19 February 2019
University of Illinois (Champaign) Wind Symphony (Stephen G. Peterson, conductor) – 25 February 2018
Northwestern University (Evanston, Ill.) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Mallory Thompson, conductor) – 23 February 2018
University of Miami (Coral Gables) Frost Wind Ensemble (Robert Carnochan, conductor) – 30 November 2017
University of Cincinnati (Ohio) College-Conservatory of Music Wind Ensemble (Kevin Holzman, conductor) – 2 November 2017
University of Southern California Thornton Wind Ensemble (H. Robert Reynolds, conductor) - 27 October 2017
State University of New York, Fredonia, Wind Ensemble (Paula Holcomb, conductor) – 16 November 2016
University of Texas at Arlington Wind Symphony (Douglas Stotter, conductor) – 17 March 2016 (CBDNA 2016 Southwestern Division Conference, Boulder, Colo.)
Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y). Wind Ensemble (H. Robert Reynolds, conductor) - 9 December 2013
University of Texas (Austin) Wind Ensemble (Jerry Junkin, conductor) - 30 September 2012

Works for Winds by This Composer

Music for Winds (2009)

Resources

Cannon, Cormac VP. "Music for Winds." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 9, edit. & comp. by Richard Miles, 952-961. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2013.
"MUSIC FOR WINDS by Stanislaw Skrowaczewski (Poland)." WASBE. Web. (Featured as WASBE’s Composition of the Week, 2 December 2019). Accessed 18 January 2023
Skrowaczewski, S. (2009?). Music for Winds [score]. [s.n.]; [s.l.]
Tim Reynish