Bells Across the Atlantic
General Info
Year: 2013
Duration: c. 4:40
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Studio Music Co.
Cost: Score and Parts - £79.95 | Score Only - £16.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II
Bassoon
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
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
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:
- Bass Drum
- Glockenspiel
- Suspended Cymbal
- Tambourine
- Tubular Bells
- Wind Chimes
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Bells Across the Atlantic was written as a tribute to Jim Cochran who, working for Shattinger Music on his side of the Atlantic, has done so much to promote Wind Ensemble music from the UK. I owe him a lot.
- Program Note by composer
In 2012, Shattinger Music, a sheet music retailer located in St. Louis, Missouri, found itself in financial distress. Subsequently, a call went out to composers to write music, the financial proceeds of which could be given to Shattinger Music in an effort to help them return to financial stability. In a relationship dating back several years, Gorb had known one of the co-owners of Shattinger Music, Jim Cochran. Gorb held Cochran in high regard due to the fact that, as much as anybody in the United States, Cochran had served as a great advocate for British music.
Gorb answered the fundraising call, the result of which was Bells Across the Atlantic (2012). Gorb considered the work to be a general tribute piece to Jim Cochran and also, in general, to the United States wind band scene because he was very appreciative of all of the commissions he had received from the United States over the years. In effect, the piece was to be a return gift. With the exception of his first award-winning wind ensemble composition, Metropolis, Bells represents Gorb's first-ever piece written for wind ensemble that was not initiated by a commission.
Ultimately, Shattinger Music was not able to maintain financial stability, and Studio Music Company in England published Bells in 2013.
- Program Note from Teach Music through Performance in Band
Awards
- Bells Across the Atlantic has been recommended as interesting, serious and distinctive music by members of the World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE).
Media
(Needed - please join the WRP if you can help.)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Arkansas State University (Jonesboro) Wind Ensemble (Tim Oliver, conductor) - 20 October 2022
- University of Missouri (Columbia) Wind Ensemble (Brian A. Silvey, conductor) - 17 March 2021
- Vanderbilt University (Nashville, Tenn.) Wind Symphony (Thomas Verrier, conductor) – 13 March 2020
- North Hills High School (Pittsburgh, Penn.) Wind Ensemble (Len Lavelle, conductor) - 4 April 2019
- University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Wind Ensemble (John R. Locke, conductor) – 22 April 2018
- Michigan State University (East Lansing) Symphony Band (John T. Madden, conductor) - 21 March 2017
- Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah) Wind Symphony (Donald Peterson, conductor) – 9 December 2015
- Lone Star Wind Orchestra (Dallas, Tex.) (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) – 16 July 2015 - WASBE Conference, San Jose, Calif.
Works for Winds by This Composer
Adaptable Music
- A Little Tango Music (Flex instrumentation) (2007/2020)
All Wind Works
- Adrenaline City (2006)
- African Samba (2006)
- Ascent (1996/2004)
- Awayday (1996)
- Awayday (arr. Wintringham) (1999/2015)
- Battle Symphony (1999)
- Bells Across the Atlantic (2013)
- Bermuda Triangle (1994)
- Bohemian Revelry (2013)
- Bohemian Revelry: For Chamber Ensemble (2013/2021)
- Bohemian Revelry (tr. Holland) (2013/2017)
- Bridgewater Breeze (1996)
- Candlelight Procession (2001)
- Concerto for Violin, Viola and Wind Ensemble (2022)
- Dances from Crete (2003)
- Downtown Diversions (2000)
- Eine Kleine Walzermusik (2009)
- Eine Kleine Yiddishe Ragmusik (2003)
- Elements (1998)
- Euphonium Concerto 1997
- Farewell (2008)
- French Dances Revisited (2004)
- A Little Salsa Music
- A Little Tango Music (2007)
- Metropolis (1992)
- Midnight in Buenos Aires (2007)
- Out of the Darkness (2023)
- Parade of the Wooden Warriors (1999)
- Pikes Peak (2017)
- Repercussions (2011)
- Scenes from an English Landscape
- Scenes from Bruegel (1994)
- Suite for Winds (1993)
- Summer Dances (2012)
- Sunrise and Safari (2006)
- Symphony No. 1 in C (2000)
- Three Way Suite
- Towards Nirvana (2002)
- Tranquility (2009)
- Viderunt Omnes (2014)
- Yiddish Dances (1997)
- Yiddish Dances (Chamber) (1997/2020)
Resources
- Adam Gorb website
- Mills, Alan W. "Bells Across the Atlantic." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 11, Compiled and edited by Richard Miles, 499-510. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2018.