Alcatraz

Andrew David Perkins

General Info

Year: 2014
Duration: c. 6:40
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Apollo Studios
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $120.00 | Score Only (print) - $25.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
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
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (6 players) including:

Bass Drum
Chimes
Crash Cymbals
Percussion One
Percussion Two
Vibraphone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

On June 11, 1962, three American criminals, Clarence Anglin, John Anglin, and Frank Morris, attempted to escape from the Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary on Alcatraz Island, San Francisco, California. The inmates fabricated dummy heads from a mixture of soap, toilet paper and real hair, and left them in their beds to fool the prison officers making their nightly counts. They burrowed through the concrete walls of their cells with spoons, climbed through the service corridor and ventilation shaft to the roof, scaled the fence and inflated a raft made from the prison's standard issue raincoats and contact cement. The prisoners entered the San Francisco Bay and attempted to paddle to freedom through frigid waters and strong currents. The FBI’s investigation was unable to determine whether the three men successfully escaped or died in the attempt.

Alcatraz for Concert Band follows their fate from sentencing to incarceration to escape.

- Program Note from publisher

Expertly scored with a cinematic flair, the first portion of the piece is slow, ominous, and foreboding with dramatic contrasts of texture and dynamics. Changing meters and repetitive figures from the vibraphone add a sense of uneasiness and uncertainty. A sudden presto reflects a more frantic mood with driving percussion lines, continued changing meters, and bold sustained passages that build in intensity until the music suddenly softens as the piece fades to silence, leaving listeners to contemplate the escapees’ fate.

- Program Note from The Instrumentalist

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Purdue University Fort Wayne (Ind.) Symphonic Band (Daniel Tembras, conductor) – 27 February 2020

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Noble Gases (Flex instrumentation) (2017/2020)

All Wind Works

Alcatraz (2014)
Asylum (2017)
Clutch. (2019)
Conspiracy Theories (2016)
Gradients (2017)
Horror Vacui (2020)
Noble Gases (Flex instrumentation) (2017/2020)
On Shoulders of Giants (2021)
Prayers in Villefranche (2016)
The Raptor Rides the Whale (2018)
Southeast by Northwest (2016)
Trip the Light Fantastic (2015)
Tuebor (2020)
Until the Night Collapses (2018)
Vox Nostra (2022)

Resources

Andrew David Perkins website Accessed 20 August 2018
"New Music Reviews." The Instrumentalist. August 2018, 24.
Perusal score