Dialogues and Entertainments

William Kraft

General Info

Year: 1980
Duration: c. 16:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Theodore Presser
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - Rental | Score Only (print) - $36.95

Movements

1. Friends – 3:55
2. Interlude – 3:05
3. Homage St. Marks – 4:55
4. Let Not the Black Sun Deceive You – 8:10

Instrumentation

Full Score
Flute I-II-III-IV (IV doubling Alto Flute; all doubling piccolo; all doubling Swiss Hand Bell)
Oboe I-II-III-IV (IV doubling English Horn; all doubling Crotale)
Bassoon I-II-III-IV (IV doubling Contrabassoon; all doubling Crotale)
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV (IV doubling B-flat Bass Clarinet; all doubling Swiss Hand Bell)
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone (doubling Crotale)
E-flat Baritone Saxophone (doubling Crotale)
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV (III, IV doubling Crotale)
Horn in F I-II-III-IV-V-VI-VII-VIII (V-VIII doubling Crotale)
Trombone I-II-III (III doubling Crotale)
Bass Trombone (doubling Crotale)
Tuba I-II
String Bass (doubling Crotale)
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V-VI, including:

Bass Drum
Crash Cymbal (2)
Crotale (2)
Glockenspiel (2)
Hand Drum (2)
Marimba (2)
Mixed Drums (6)
Snare Drum (4)
Suspended Cymbal (5)
Tam-tam (3)
Temple Block
Triangle
Tubular Bell (2)
Vibraphone
Water Gong
Xylophone (2)

Soprano voice

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

The composer's knowledge of the percussion family's timbral and technical possibilities is obvious throughout. In one quasi-cadenza example, the timpanist plays various pitches in Morse code rhythm spelling out "H. Robert" (Reynolds). Percussionist Charles Owens and Michigan composition teachers are honored similarly later.

In addition to the timpanist and six percussionists, who play instruments in movement two, most wind players perform with bowed crotales or Swiss hand bells. Excerpts from Pietro Lappi's Canzona 26, Gabrieli's Sonata pian e forte a 8, and Hassler's Laudate Cominum (which are presented in dialogue with contemporary interjections) recall to the composer a memorable occasion when he led the Los Angeles Philharmonic brass section in these and other works in St. Mark's Cathedral in 1979. In movement three the winds are joined by a soprano soloist; in the final phrase of the coda the mallets perform several indeterminate "Morse code" motifs (spelling "truth, love, peace"). The music ends with a quiet (octotonic scale) chord. Analyst William Harbinson writes, "the musical language of Dialogues and Entertainments is multi-faceted...one encounters harmonic and melodic resources as diverse as twelve-tone and late Renaissance...(yet) the work is accessible."

- Program Note from Program Notes for Band

Media

Audio: Reference recording. North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor)
Audio CD: North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Migliaro Corporon, conductor) – 1997

State Ratings

None discovered thus far.

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Symphony Band - 12 April 2013
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Symphony Band (Michael Haithcock, conductor) - 7 December 2009
Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) Wind Ensemble (William Kraft, conductor; Judith Kellock, soprano) - 7 May 2005
James Madison University (Harrisonburg, Va.) Wind Ensemble (John Patrick Rooney, conductor; Sandra Cryder, soprano) - 23 January 1992 (CBDNA 1992 Southern Division Conference, Charlotte, N.C.)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Wind Ensemble (H. Robert Reynolds, conductor; Carla Connors, soprano) - 13 February 1981 (CBDNA 1981 National Conference) *Premiere Performance*

Works for Winds by This Composer

Brazen (1996)
Concerto for Four Percussionists and Symphonic Wind Ensemble (1964/1995)
Concerto No 1 for Timpani (1983/2010)
Configurations (1966)
Dialogues and Entertainments (1980)
Fanfare LA Festival '87
Games (1969)
Nonet for Brass and Percussion (1988)
Suite for Percussion (1963/1990)
The Wrath of Other Winds (1986)

Resources

"DIALOGUES AND ENTERTAINMENTS by William Kraft (USA)." WASBE. Web. (Featured as WASBE’s Composition of the Week, 20 April 2020). Accessed 16 January 2023
Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music. "William Kraft." Accessed 12 January 2017
Kraft, W. (1980). Dialogues and Entertainments : On Commission of the University of Michigan Wind Ensemble ... [score]. New Music West: Van Nuys, Calif.
Miles, Richard B. 2000. Teaching Music Through Performance in Band. Volume 3. Chicago: GIA Publications. pp. 647-651.
Smith, Norman E. (2002). Program Notes for Band. Chicago: GIA Publications, pp. 358.