Concert(in)o for Marimba and Wind Quintet

Zachary Cairns

General Info

Year: 2017
Duration: c. 23:15
Difficulty: V (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: C. Alan Publications
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $60.00; (digital) - $60.00

Movements

1. Along the Path Unwinding - 7:25
2. Cadenza lenta - 7:10
3. In Sylvan Effusions - 8:30

Instrumentation

Full Score
Solo Marimba
Flute
Oboe
B-flat Soprano Clarinet
Horn in F
Bassoon

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Concert(in)o for Marimba and Wind Quintet was composed between August 2015 and November 2016. It was commissioned by, and is dedicated to, Dr. Jeffrey Barudin. Jeff has been a good friend of mine since our days as undergraduate students at Penn State University, where we both studied percussion with Dan Armstrong and Gifford Howarth. Even though Jeff’s doctorate took him to the University of Michigan and mine took me to the Eastman School of Music, we had a reunion of sorts when we both landed jobs in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2010. He was kind enough to premiere my Interactions for Baritone Saxophone and Percussion (with Adrianne Honnold, saxophone) in 2014. It was a great treat to see the apparent ease with which Jeff approached that intricate and highly choreographed score, and as such, I was thrilled when he approached me about writing this piece.

My idea for this piece was to write a marimba concerto that might be performable as a recital piece. I remember being frustrated as an undergraduate percussionist that the only opportunities I had to explore the concerto repertoire would be with a piano reduction. Pairing the marimba with a small, well-established chamber ensemble such as a wind quintet seemed like a natural way to make it reasonable for a marimbist to perform this piece in its original instrumentation. Additionally, given the marimba’s modest dynamic range, the use of a quintet eliminates many issues of balance (and even amplification) that arise in concerti for marimba with full orchestra. The title, Concert(in)o, uses parentheses to play on the gray line that separates a “concerto” from a “concertino.” While I view this piece as a concerto for marimba, the word “concertino” more accurately describes the size of the ensemble.

The piece is in three movements. The quintet is employed for the outer movements only, leaving the marimbist alone for the Cadenza lenta second movement. Though both the outer movements have cadenzas for the soloist, this middle movement is “the” cadenza for the piece.

- Program Note by composer

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

The Equinox Chamber Players (Jeffrey Barudin, marimba) - 26 April 2017 *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Concert(in)o for Marimba and Wind Quintet (2017)
Diablerie for Wind Ensemble (2019)
Ebenezer (1996, rev. 2014)
Eight through Eleven: Four Episodes for Seven Trumpets (2015)
Fanfare: Generation Next (2019)
Hope Remains Within (2017)
Interactions for Baritone Saxophone and Percussion (2014)
Marimba Malinke for marimba and djembe (2017)
Mischief of One Kind and Another (2018)
Passing Through for alto saxophone and string trio (2017)
Refracted Moonlight (2014)
Rhythmic Ceremonial Ritual for seven antiphonal tambourines (2015)
Wind Down (2019)

Resources

Cairns, Z.; Barudin, J. (2017). Concert(in)o for Marimba and Wind Quintet [score]. C. Alan Publications: Greensboro, N.C.