Athabasca

From Wind Repertory Project
Peter Meechan

Peter Meechan


General Info

Year: 2018
Duration: c. 10:10
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Peter Meechan Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $250.00; (digital) - $200.00   |   Score Only (print) - $50.00; (digital) - $50.00


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion (6 players), including:

  • Bass Drum
  • Glockenspiel
  • Marimba
  • Suspended Cymbal
  • Triangle
  • Tubular Bells
  • Vibraphone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

The stunning Athabasca Glacier, in the Columbia Icefield in the Canadian Rockies, provided the inspiration for this work. After having visited the Glacier in 2016, I knew that it would find a place in my music -- the sheer magnitude of it was stunning, the visual was breath-taking, and the rate at which it is receding (five meters per year) completely devastating.

Now sadly collapsed, beneath the glacier there were great, expansive ice caves -- thankfully they were photographed by explorers, and it is these photos that provided the inspiration for the work: an imaginary walk through these fragile, beautiful structures; what music would sound like in them, what talking would sound like in them; and what moments of listening would sound like in them.

When writing the piece I also wanted to try and acknowledge the diminishing nature of the glacier. Whilst not being something you can visibly notice by simply observing for a short time, it is still happening in front of our very eyes. This is represented by the tempos in the piece – almost doubling from the original tempo to the fastest tempo of the work (around 2/3rds of the way through), and – hopefully – almost imperceptibly.

When commissioned by Ray Baril and the Edmonton Winds to write a new work for them, the Alberta connection between the group and the glacier was impossible to resist.

- Program Note by composer


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • National Youth Band of Canada (Mark Hopkins, conductor) – 10 May 2019


Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music


All Wind Works


Resources

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