Adjustable Wrench
General Info
Year: 1987
Duration: c. 11:00
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Boosey & Hawkes
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental | Score Only - $48.14
Instrumentation
Full Score
Oboe
Bassoon
Bb Clarinet (2)
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Trumpet (2)
Horn in F
Trombone
Piano
Synthesizer
Marimba
Viola
Cello
Double Bass
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
..the constructions are so tautly intricate that your ear can fasten upon different strands each time around, and discover a new perspective for the whole piece. Financial Times
In Adjustable Wrench, Michael Torke's eccentric movement and spare chordal development implied something quite the opposite, namely the relentless and ritual feel of jazz's wavelike choruses. The New York Times
In Adjustable Wrench Torke has created a modern equivalent of a Mozart Divertimento, with all the skill and craftsmanship which that implies. ...[it] is a work for chamber orchestra that consists largely of a vamp-like figure, not unlike the opening measures of a Sondheim song. Fanfare
...its fusion of rock, jazz and classical elements is confidently, often originally handled. Yorkshire Post
-Press notes
Each group of four instruments combines with a keyboard: four woodwinds are matched with a piano, four brass with a marimba, and four strings with a synthesizer. The texture is simple -- melody and accompaniment. After a melody is introduced, it is then harmonized into four note chords. The chords become an accompaniment for a new melody, which in turn is harmonized to work with the accompaniment. The old chords drop out, making the new chords become the new accompaniment for yet another new melody.
The keyboard instruments, around which each family of four instruments is grouped, simply double exactly what is being played; the piano, marimba, and synthesizer add no new material. Instead, they provide an extra envelope to the four-note chords as well as reinforce the attacks.
The music falls into the kind of four-bar phrases found in most popular music. Overall, the structure of the piece is arranged in four identifiable sections.
This composition can be performed with multiple string parts, and is suitable for a symphony orchestras.
The work's premier took place at the Huddersfield Festival, performed by Lontano (Odaline de la Martinez, conductor).
-Notes by the composer
Commercial Discography
Media
MP3 download; ensemble and conductor unknown
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Adjustable Wrench (1989)
- Bliss (2003/2013)
- Bright Blue Music (arr. Kirk) (1985)
- Four Wheel Drive (2004)
- Grand Central Station (2000)
- Javelin (tr. Patterson) (1994/2000)
- The Kiss (2006)
- May, June and July (1995-2012)
- May and June (2012)
- July (1995)
- Mojave (2010)
- Overnight Mail (1997)
- Rapture (2001)
- Rust (1989)
- Saxophone Concerto for Soprano Saxophone and Wind Ensemble (1993/2012)
- Telephone Book (1985/1995)
- Three Scenes from Tahiti (tr. Leonard) (2009/2021)
- Tiger in the Sun (2011)
- Torque Series (2012)
- Two Girls on the Beach (2005)
- Vanada (1984)