Beauty Broken

Nicole Piunno

General Info

Year: 2015
Duration: c. 10:00
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Murphy Music Press
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $185.00 | Score Only (print) - $50.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
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 (III div.)
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:

Bass Drum
Bells
Brake Drum
Chimes
China Cymbals
Crash Cymbals
Crotales
Glass sound (optional)
Marimba
Sizzle Cymbal
Snare Drum
Splash Cymbal
Suspended Cymbal (small, medium and large)
Tam-Tam
Temple Blocks
Tom-Toms (4)
Vibraphone
Xylophone

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

I visited the Columbus Museum of Art in the winter of 2014 and met a work titled “Blow Up #1” by Ori Gersht. This work captured my attention and insisted I give it a great amount of thought. Gersht used high-speed photography to capture a moment in time of an arrangement of flowers exploding. In that one short moment Gersht captured a profound truth about this world and the human condition.

At first sight the photo looked amazing. It was beautiful and exciting. Yet when I looked closely, I realized it was beauty that was broken. The photo was a visual display of the tension that exists between beauty and violence, or life and death. When I first saw the work, I was attracted to the beauty. Then I saw the violence and wanted to turn away. However, once I accepted both and was able to hold the paradox of these two realities, I was able to see the photograph for what it truly was. A sense of hope emerged as I felt a longing for beauty to be restored.

Beauty Broken begins with a chorale in the brass. This chorale leads into a celebratory section that ends in a state of brokenness. Alternating slow and fast sections follow this moment of breaking. These sections incorporate what I call the "Broken Theme". This theme is intense at times, while it is somber with a sense of longing at other moments. The chorale melody also appears at various times throughout the piece, often in subtle ways. This chorale becomes most apparent at the end as the woodwinds play celebratory flourishes over the brass chorale. Finally, the broken theme returns for one final statement.

- Program Note by composer

Media

Audio: Reference recording. Ensemble and conductor unknown

State Ratings

Texas: V. Complete

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Indiana University (Bloomington) Symphonic Band (Eric M. Smedley, conductor) – 7 February 2023
Traverse City (Mich.) West Senior High Wind Ensemble (Chad Mielens, conductor) - 18 May 2022
Ohio Wesleyan University (Delaware) Symphonic Wind Ensemble (Richard Edwards, conductor) - 31 October 2021
Quad City Wind Ensemble (Davenport, Iowa) (Nicholas Propes, conductor) - 24 October 2021
United States Coast Guard Band (New London, Conn.) (Jeffrey A. Spenner, conductor) – 15 March 2020
Indiana University (Bloomington) Concert Band (Jason Nam, conductor) – 20 February 2020 (CBDNA 2020 North Central Division Conference, Chicago, Ill.)
Wind Symphony of Clovis (Calif.) (Christine Keenan, conductor) – October 2019

Works for Winds by This Composer

Adaptable Music

Postcard from Sequoia (Flex instrumentation) (2019/2020)
Solace Dance (Flex instrumentation) (2016/2020)
Three Miniatures (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
You Decide (Adaptable Band) (2020)

All Wind Works

Articulate March (2016)
At a Crossroads (2022)
Autumn Air (2016)
Be Still and Still Moving (2020)
Beauty Broken (2015)
Blue Radiance (2020)
Bright Shadow Fanfare (2021)
Catharsis (2020)
Concerto for Trumpet and Wind Ensemble (2018)
Dance the Joy Alive (2016)
Eternity in an Hour (2016)
I Will Lament and Love (2018)
Image on Truth (2019)
Letters from the Traveling Doll (2021)
Look Not Upon Us (2011)
Monterey Sketches
Night Watches (2020)
On a Hill Far Away
Postcard from Sequoia (2019)
Postcard from Sequoia (Flex instrumentation) (2019/2020)
Resound (2021)
Safely Rest (2020)
Shifting Shadows
Solace Dance (2016)
Solace Dance (Flex instrumentation) (2016/2020)
The Spirit Is Willing (2023)
Spring Fanfare (2016)
Sunflower Studies (2023)
Three Miniatures (Flex instrumentation) (2020)
Through Wind and Whispers (2014)
Where Words Cannot Go (2020)
Woven
You Decide (Adaptable Band) (2020)

Resources

Nicole Piunno website Accessed 24 February 2020
Perusal score