WU
Subtitle: TECHNESOPHIA: a Dance of the Wu Li Master
General Info
Year: 2008
Duration: c. 4:35
Difficulty: III (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Stormworks
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $85.00; (digital) - $75.00 | Score Only (print) - $20.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III
Horn in F I-II-III
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
PAD Bass
Harp
Timpani
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Chimes
- Crash Cymbals
- Glockenspiel
- Gong
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tambourine
- Xylophone
Voices
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
The dance between opposites that appear to be in conflict, sometimes are, and oftentimes simply pass through each other, has become the inspiration for this piece. It is both literal and metaphoric. It is the dance we hear and the dance we live. It is the dance that is played and the dance that is imagined.
This “younger” band work finds connection with the large-scale S-Matrix, Symphony # Numberless and indeed provides yet another chapter in the expanding body of work called “Storm” works.
In Chinese, the term “wu” refers to Nothing, a Nothingness that is Nothing before even the notion of Nothing exists. From this primordial Nothing emerges the Yin and Yang, the perpetual interplay of opposites … the Techne and the Sophia. From martial art to music to architecture and all things made and used and imagined, the dance of opposites swirls in heart and mind and soul. “Wu Li” has many meanings. One is “patterns of organic energy”; another is “emptiness”. One of our greatest and most interesting storms is the one that dances in our imaginations as we instantly hurl ourselves through past, present and future thought. Here we were, there we are … somewhere is where we could be, and so runs the storm of time.
- Program Note by composer
Commissioned by the Clarence 7th Grade Band, Andrea Runfola, director.
- Program Note from score
Commercial Discography
- Audio CD: Clarence Wind Ensemble (William Eicher, conductor) - 2009
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Clarence (N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (William Eicher, conductor) – 17 December 2009 (2009 Midwest Clinic)
Works for Winds by This Composer
- America the Brave (1981)
- Aurora (1998)
- Ben Hur (as arranger) (1959/2008)
- Concerto for Violin and Band (2000)
- David (1995)
- The Defenders of Truefire! (1996)
- Escape from Plato's Cave (1993)
- Festival of Light! (1995)
- Finest Hour! (2000)
- Forbidden Fortress (1997)
- Giving!
- Godspeed! (1997)
- HAJJ (2000)
- Honor, Courage...Commitment (1996/1998)
- I Shall Hear in Heaven
- In a Cause Called "Glorious" (2001)
- In the Beginning (1992)
- Millennium (1997)
- O Come Holy Night! (1993)
- Once More Unto the Breach (2004)
- The Shoemaker (1999/2006)
- The Speech of Angels (1998)
- Stormworks
- Three Musical Haikus for Band (1984)
- Time to Take Back the Knights! (1999)
- Triumph at CHO-SIN! (1996)
- Under the Cover of Night ... Into the Light of Day! (1993)
- The Universe Below
- A Walk in Jurassic Park. See: In the Beginning
- Without Warning (1996)
- WU (2008)
Resources
- Melillo, Stephen. "WU Composer Notes." YouTube, 11 June 2016. Accessed 5 July 2021
- Perusal score
- Stephen Melillo website Accessed 5 July 2021