Voyages
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Subtitle: For Solo Cello and Wind Orchestra
General Info
Year: 1983
Duration: c. 26:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Theodore Presser
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - Rental | Score Only (print) - $64.95
Movements
Single movement with four distinct sections:
1. Ben moderato
2. Allegro brioso
3. Adagio
4. Allegro
Instrumentation
Full Score
Solo Cello
Flute I-II-III (II doubling piccolo)
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Harp
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III
(percussion detail desired)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Although the music of Voyages for cello and wind orchestra is continuous, it falls into four distinct sections, or movements: slow/fast/slow/fast. The first movement is a kind of catalog of musical materials: a few chords, fragments of melody, gestures, and musical textures. Each of the three succeeding movements uses these same materials in new ways; each is patterned on the first movement, but each more loosely than the last. In this way, the whole composition creates a series of concentric circles orbiting around the central nucleus of musical ideas voyages outward from the work's opening.
But each movement has a character of its own, too. The second, a scherzo in near-perpetual motion, is dominated by ostinato figures. The slow third movement offers solos and duets for English horn, bass clarinet and bassoon, tuba and solo cello. The finale combines many elements, but most prominent is a series of brass fanfares alternating with a set of variations for the soloist accompanied by small groups of instruments.
Having long wanted both to write something for solo cello and to try my hand at writing for wind ensemble, I decided that to combine these two projects might provide very interesting compositional challenges and opportunities. Voyages was commissioned by the Yale Band; the solo part was written for cellist Lynden Cranham. The work was composed between mid-1983 and mid-1984. Ms. Cranham and the Yale Band gave the first performance in New Haven on 7 December 1984, with Thomas C. Duffy conducting.
- Program Note by composer
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; Mickey Katz, cello) - 15 February 2024
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Symphony Band (Michael Haithcock, conductor; Richard Narroway, cello) – 18 November 2016
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Concerto for Percussion and Wind Orchestra (2001)
- Fanfares and Arias (1994)
- Funeral Music for Queen Mary (after Purcell) (1992)
- Hue and Cry (2006)
- Symphony No. 1 (arr. Yim) (2012/2017)
- Threnos (1998)
- Voyages (1983)
Resources
- Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "Steven Stucky." Accessed 12 November 2016
- Perusal score
- Stucky, S. 1988. Voyages: For Cello and Wind Orchestra [score]. Merion Music: Bryn Mawr, Penn.
- "VOYAGES for Solo Cello and Orchestral Winds by Steven Stucky (USA, 1949-2016)." WASBE. Web. (Featured as WASBE’s Composition of the Week, 15 February 2021). Accessed 13 January 2023