Xerxes

John Mackey

General Info

Year: 2010
Duration: c. 5:10
Difficulty: IV (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Osti Music
Cost: Score and Parts - $140.00 | Score - $25.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet I-II
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
Bass Trombone
Euphonium (2 players)
Tuba (2 players)
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V-VI, including:

Bass Drum
Bell Plate (on brake drum)
China Cymbal (large and small)
Crash Cymbals
Crotales
Marimba
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbal
Tambourine
Tam-tams (small and large)
Tom-tom (large)
Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Xerxes is a concert march. Xerxes, for those who haven’t seen 300, was King of Persia from 485 BC until his assassination by stabbing in 465 BC. Midlothian High School, in Texas, commissioned the piece.

I’d originally thought I’d write a march along the lines of the Ives Country Band March, but the more I worked on that idea, the more I felt like I was just trying to reinvent the Ives march, which is already a sort of reinvention of a march. My version sounded like bad Ives, and although it’s a great, crazy piece, I wouldn’t describe the Ives as sounding “good” to begin with.

So many concert marches blur together in my head, all of them in some peppy major key, falling into either the chipper patriotic American sound or the more prim British sound. Since I don’t really do prim, or patriotic, I went with ... angry. The plan was, “This is going to be a march about somebody who is bad news.” It’s just a fairly straightforward concert march, only a little nastier. I don’t expect it’ll be played at a lot of July 4th parades. (Well, maybe somewhere like NYC.)

- Program Note by composer

Media

Audio: Reference Recording. U.S. Coast Guard Band (Richard Wyman, conductor)
Audio CD: Dekaney High School Wind Ensemble (Josafat Jaime, conductor) - 2010

State Ratings

Minnesota: I

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Culver-Stockton College (Canton, Mo.) Wind Ensemble (Trent Hollinger, conductor) - 25 March 2023
James Madison University (Harrisonburg, Va.) Concert Band (Scott Rikkers, conductor) - 27 February 2023
National Youth Band of Canada (Toronto, Ont.) (Darrin Oehlerking, conductor) - 13 May 2022
Michigan State University (East Lansing) Alumni Band (Kevin Sedatole, conductor) - 1 May 2022
California State University Northridge Wind Ensemble (Lawrence Stoffel, conductor) - 28 April 2022
Stuttgart (Germany) Symphonic Youth Wind Orchestra (Alexander Beer, conductor) – 20 November 2021
West Virginia University (Morgantown) Symphonic Band (Cheldon Williams, conductor) - 8 April 2021
San Antonio (Tx.) Community Wind Ensemble (Albert Aguilar, conductor) - 13 December 2020
Sierra Pacific High School (Hanford, Calif.) Symphonic Band (Jeff Detlefsen, conductor) -15 March 2019 (2019 Sutherland Wind Festival (Fresno, Calif.)
University of North Texas (Denton) University Band (Brent Penshorn, conductor) – 20 February 2019
Virginia Tech (Blacksburg) Symphony Band (Chad Reep, conductor) – 3 December 2018
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis) Maroon Campus Band (Cassandra Bechard, conductor) – 29 October 2018
Boston University (Mass.) Wind Ensemble (Jennifer Bill, conductor) – 19 October 2018
Western Michigan (Muskegon) Concert Winds (Gail A. Brechting, conductor) – 2 May 2018 (ACB 2018 Annual Convention (Buffalo, N.Y.))
University of North Carolina Charlotte Wind Ensemble (Shawn Smith, conductor) - 30 April 2018
Corvallis (Ore.) High School Wind Ensemble (Lia Poole, conductor) – 27 February 2018
Arizona State University (Tempe) Wind Ensemble – 19 September 2017
Melbourne (Fla.) Municipal Band (Staci Cleveland, conductor) – 5 May 2017 (ACB 2017 Annual Convention (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.))
Appalachian State University (Boone, N.C.) Symphony Band (Kevin Richardson, conductor) – 30 April 2017

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Let Me Be Frank with You (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
Night on Fire (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Ambrose) (2013/2021)
Sheltering Sky (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Dunnigan) (2012/2020)
Strange Humors (Flex instrumentation) (2006/2020)
This Cruel Moon (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Dunnigan) (2017/2020)

All Wind Works

Antique Violences (2017)
Asphalt Cocktail (2009)
Aurora Awakes (2009)
Clocking (2007)
Concerto for Soprano Sax and Wind Ensemble (2007)
Damn (1998)
A deep reverberation fills with stars (2022)
Divine Mischief (2022)
Drum Music: Concerto for Percussion (2011)
Fanfare for Full Fathom Five (2015)
Foundry (2011)
The Frozen Cathedral (2012)
Harvest: Concerto for Trombone (2009)
High Wire (2012)
Hymn to a Blue Hour (2010)
Hymn to a Blue Hour (arr. Wallace) (2010/2021)
Kingfishers Catch Fire (2007)
Let Me Be Frank with You (2020/2021)
Let Me Be Frank with You (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
Lightning Field (2015)
Liminal (2016)
Mom Song
The Night Garden (2017)
Night on Fire. See: The Soul Has Many Motions
Places we can no longer go (2018)
(redacted) (2013)
Redline Tango (2004)
The Rumor of a Secret King (2017/2018)
The Rumor of a Secret King (arr. Blegen) (2017/2018/2020)
Sacred Spaces (2019)
Sasparilla (2005)
Sheltering Sky (2012)
Sheltering Sky (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Dunnigan) (2012/2020)
Snarl (2018)
Some treasures are heavy with human tears (2021)
Songs from the End of the World (2015)
The Soul Has Many Motions (2013)
- Night on Fire (2013)
- Night on Fire (Flex instrumentation) (arr. Ambrose) (2013/2021)
Strange Humors (2006)
Strange Humors (Flex instrumentation) (2006/2020)
Strange Humors (saxophone ensemble) (2006/2021)
This Cruel Moon (2014/2017)
This Cruel Moon (Flex instrumentation) (2017/2020)
Turbine (2006)
Turning (2007)
Undertow (2008)
Until the Scars (2014/2019)
Wine-Dark Sea (2014)
Xerxes (2010)

Resources