Primordium
General Info
Year: 1999
Duration: c. 2:00
Difficulty: I-1/2 (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Alfred Music Publishing
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $48.00; (digital) - $48.00 | Score Only (print) - $7.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
Flute
Oboe
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
E-flat Alto Clarinet
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F
Trombone/Euphonium/Bassoon
Tuba
Piano
Timpani
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Crash Cymbals
- Snare Drum
- Suspended Cymbal
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Travel back in time to visit the Earth as it may have been during prehistoric times. Hear the eerie bubbling of the "primordial ooze," the raw volcanic power of the ostinato and the heroic newness of the major fanfare in this intensely colorful work.
Dark and slightly dissonant, this intense opener recalls the warlike rhythms of Holst's Mars. The powerful modal sound is offset by the heroic brightness of major fanfares.
- Program Note from publisher
The word primordium means an organ, structure, or tissue in the earliest stage of development.
Media
State Ratings
- Maryland: II
- North Carolina: II
- Tennessee: III
- West Virginia: I
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- Wawona Middle School (Fresno, Calif.) Symphonic Band (Christopher Clark, conductor) - 21 April 2017 (2017 San Joaquin Valley (Calif.) Concert Band Invitational)
- Hopewell Middle School (Milton, Ga.) Concert Band (Audrey Murphy, conductor) – December 2010
Works for Winds by This Composer
- 1812 Overture (as arranger) (1880/1997)
- Andromeda Overture (1992)
- Ave Verum Corpus (as arranger) (1791/2006)
- Battle Hymn of the Republic (as arranger, with Althouse) (1861/1997)
- Barber of Seville, The (as arranger)
- Beethoven's Fifth Christmas
- Capriccio Espagnol (as arranger) (1887/1993)
- Cardiff Castle (2000)
- Cascade Festival Overture (1994)
- Cedar Canyon Roundup (2002)
- Celebration Fanfare (1998)
- Colonel Bogey (as arranger) (1914/2001)
- 1812 Overture (as arranger) (1880/1997)
- Elizabethan Dance (2008)
- Fantasy on "Yankee Doodle" (1995)
- Finale from Symphony No. 1 (as arranger) (1862-76/2008)
- Finale from Symphony No. 2 (as arranger) (1872/1880/2002)
- Friday Harbor (2001)
- Grant County Celebration (1991)
- Greenwillow Portrait (1988)
- Hawkeye Festival Overture (2006)
- Highbridge Excursions (1995)
- Highland Park Overture (1991)
- Hungarian Rhapsody No. 2 (as arranger) (1853/2001)
- Korean Hill Song (2000)
- Largo from "New World Symphony" (as arranger) (1893/2007)
- The Last Rose of Summer (as arranger) (1813/2006)
- Mallet Maniacs (2003)
- March to the Big Top (1995)
- Nessun Dorma (as arranger) (1926/2000)
- Night in the Tropics (as arranger) (1859/2001)
- Night on Bald Mountain (as arranger) (1867/1991)
- O Little Town of Bethlehem (as arranger) (2007)
- Plaza de Toros (1997)
- Plaza Park Escapades (1994)
- Primordium (1999)
- Riverside Rag (1988)
- Russian Sailors' Dance (as arranger) (1927/1998)
- Santa at the Symphony (as arranger) (1990)
- Santa Meets Sousa (1992)
- Scenes of Wonder (1994)
- The Star-Spangled Banner (as arranger) (1814/1998)
- Southgate Fantasy (1995)
- Tunbridge Meadows (1992)
- Twenty Carols in 2 Minutes (as arranger) (1998)
- Two Classic Miniatures (as arranger) (1991)
- Variants on a Nautical Hymn (1993)
- A Winter's Carol (as arranger) (1996)
- Zuni Legend (1993)
Resources
- "Mark Williams." Alfred Music. Web. Accessed 10 September 2021
- Williams, M. (1999). Primordium [score]. Alfred Publishing Co.: Van Nuys, Calif.