Comix Trips

From Wind Repertory Project
Paul Lansky

Paul Lansky


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Subtitle: A Divertimento for Chamber Ensemble


General Info

Year: 2008
Duration: c. 21:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Cost: Score and Parts - Rental


Movements

1. Leaping Lizards - 4:30
2. Holy Moly – 4:05
3. Good Grief – 5:38
4. What, Me Worry? – 6:40


Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute
Oboe (doubles English horn)
Bassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet
String Bass
Piano
Viola
Percussion

(percussion detail desired)

  • Vibraphone


Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Commissioned by the contemporary ensemble, Relâche, Comix Trips is fun —and extremely virtuosic. Paul Lansky is one of America’s best-known pioneers in computer music and he was famously sampled by Radiohead on their Kid A album. Lately, he’s received praise from the NY Times and others for his acoustic compositions, like Comix Trips, which takes its inspiration from famous comic strips and characters like Little Orphan Annie (“Leaping Lizards!”), Captain Marvel (“Holy Moly”), Peanuts (“Good Grief”), and Alfred E. Newman (“What, Me Worry?”).

The Times article begins, “After 35 years immersed in the world of computer music, the composer Paul Lansky talks with wonder about the enormous capacities of primitive objects carved from trees or stamped from metal sheets: violins, cellos, trumpets, pianos. ‘To create the sound of a violin — wow!' he said in a recent interview. “I can’t do that on a computer.’” Lansky also has said, “Here I am, 64, and I find myself at what feels like the beginning of a career. I’m interested in writing for real people at this point...[Earlier in my career] I wanted to be a filmmaker rather than a playwright. That is, I was interested in creating the finished product rather than in creating scripts or other people to execute.” Now, Lansky is discovering the joy of creating scripts for living players, and the thrill of hearing an audience react to the enthusiasm of human performers playing his creations. He has come to wonder whether the future success of a piece of music depends on the pleasure musicians take in playing it, the implication being that a piece with no performers has a built-in obsolescence. Holy Moly!

- Program Note by University of Maryland Wind Orchestra concert program, 12 July 2015


Awards


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


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

  • Lansky, P. (2008) Comix Trips: A Divertimento for Chamber Ensemble [score]. Carl Fischer: New York.
  • Paul Lansky, Carl Fischer