Metropolis
General Info
Year: 1992
Duration: 15:00
Difficulty: VII (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Maecenas Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $198.00 | Score Only (print) - $50.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute I-II-III (II-III doubling Piccolo)
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III-IV
B-flat Bass Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II-III-IV
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II-III
Euphonium
Tuba
String Bass
Harp (or Celesta/Piano if Harp not available)
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V-VI, including:
- Anvil
- Bass Drum
- Bongos
- Claves
- Congas
- Cowbell
- Crash Cymbal
- Glockenspiel
- Guiro
- Hi-hat
- Maracas
- Marimba
- Mark Tree
- Rattle
- Ride Cymbal
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal (3)
- Tambourine
- Tam-tam
- Temple Blocks
- Tenor Drum
- Tom-tom (5)
- Triangle
- Tubular Bells
- Vibraphone
- Whip
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
I have long wanted to write a work reflecting the hectic pace of modern-day living. The invitation to compose a piece for the very urban combination of woodwind, saxophones, brass, piano and extensive percussion gave me this opportunity. The initial idea for Metropolis came from a radio play which was set in the near future and where the entire population of the country lived in their vehicles, driving forever round a circular motorway day and night, stopping only for food and petrol. In this piece I have tried to capture a mood of extreme tension together with the desperate exhilaration that the play conveyed to me.
The work is in one movement falling into four sections and lasting about fourteen minutes. The first section is by far the longest and is fast and agitated with much of the material deriving from the nervous opening figure on low clarinets. After a cacophonous climax the ‘human’ voice of the solo alto saxophone tries to introduce a mood of greater tranquility before music from the opening section returns, this time in a brash and vulgar style. The final section follows a doom-laden climax and features a soft chorale for all the winds over percussion playing in cross-rhythms. The work ends starkly and simply.
Metropolis is dedicated to Paul Patterson and was first performed by the Royal Academy of Music Wind Ensemble, conducted by Edward Gregson in 1993. It subsequently won the Walter Beeler Memorial Prize in the USA.
- Program Note by composer
Awards
- Walter Beeler Prize, 1994, winner
Media
- Audio: Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra (Timothy Reynish, conductor)
- Audio CD: Ithaca College Wind Ensemble (Rodney Winther, conductor) - 2012
- Audio CD: Royal Northern College of Music Wind Orchestra (Timothy Reynish, conductor) - 2005
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Concert Band (Courtney Snyder, conductor) – 12 April 2017
- Dartmouth College (Hanover, N.H.) Wind Ensemble (Matthew M. Marsit, conductor) - 20 February 2015
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.
- Gorb, Adam (1992). Metropolis [score]. Maecenas Music: Kenley, Surrey, Eng.
- Gorb, Adam. “Metropolis.” Winds 9 (Autumn 1994): 8-9.