Recoil

Joseph Schwantner

General Info

Year: 2004
Duration: c. 12:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Schott Music Distribution
Cost: Score and Parts - €355.00 | Score Only - €79.00

Instrumentation

Full Score
Piccolo
Flute I-II
Alt Flute
Oboe I-II
English Horn
Bassoon I-II
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
Soprano Saxophone
Alto Saxophone
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Euphonium
Tuba
Piano (amplified)
Percussion I-II-III-IV, including:

Anvil
Bass Drum (2)
Bongos
Brake Drums (4)
Conga drum
Cowbell (large)
Crotales
Glockenspiel
Marimba
Suspended Cymbal (large)
Suspended Cymbal (medium)
Suspended Cymbal (small)
Tam-tam (Large)
Tam-tam (medium)
Tam-tam (small)
Tenor Drum
Timbales
Timpani
Tom-Toms (1 set of 4)
Triangle (medium)
Triangle (small)
Triangles (Large -2)
Tubular Bells
Vibraphone
Xylophone

Players humming

Errata

None discovered thus far.

Program Notes

Recoil was commissioned through the Raymond and Beverly Sackler New Music Foundation by the University of Connecticut. It was given its premiere on 3 November 2004, at the Isaac Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall, in New York, by the University of Connecticut Wind Ensemble, Jeffrey Renshaw, conductor. It is the first of Schwantner's works for winds to include both saxophone and euphonium parts, and was not inspired by poetry.

With Recoil, Schwantner utilizes a very limited palate and foregoes certain elements that characterized his first three works for winds (there is no use of micro-notation, “visual time signatures,” or other unconventional musical notations).

Schwantner writes:

“Recoil is my fourth work for wind ensemble in a series of pieces that span twenty-nine years. The other works are: and the mountains rising nowhere (1977), From a Dark Millennium (1980), and In evening's stillness (1996). While Recoil employs a larger instrumentation than the earlier works, they all share similar characteristics in that each is framed in a single continuous movement and each exploit the rich timbral resources of an expanded percussion section that includes amplified piano.”

- Program Note by Nikk Pilato

Media

Audio CD: U.S. Coast Guard Band (Kenneth W. Megan, conductor) - 2009
Audio CD: North Texas Wind Symphony (Eugene Corporon, conductor).

State Ratings

Georgia: VI
Louisiana: V

Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

Southern Methodist University (Dallas, Tx.) Meadows Wind Ensemble (Jack Delaney, conductor) - 18 February 2022
Ohio University (Athens) Wind Symphony (William Talley, conductor) – 3 November 2019
Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Mark Scatterday, conductor) – 4 February 2019
University of Connecticut (Mansfield) Wind Ensemble (Jeffrey Renshaw, conductor) – 12 October 2017
State University of New York, Potsdam, Crane Wind Ensemble (Brian K. Doyle, conductor) – 22 February 2017
Eastman Wind Orchestra (Rochester, N.Y.) (Mark Davis Scatterday, conductor) - 22 February 2016
Western Kentucky University (Bowling Green) (Gary Schallert, conductor) – 20 February 2016 (CBDNA 2016 Southern Division Conference, Charleston, S.C.)
University of Texas Wind Ensemble (Corey Pompey, conductor) - 23 November 2014
Illinois State University (Normal) Wind Symphony (Martin H. Seggelke, conductor) - 28 September 2014
United States Coast Guard Band (New London, Conn.) (Kenneth W. Megan, conductor) – 16 December 2009 (2009 Midwest Clinic)
The Hart School (Hartford, Conn.) Wind Ensemble (Glen Adsit, conductor) – 31 March 2007 (CBDNA 2007 National Conference, Ann Arbor, Mich.)

Works for Winds by This Composer

...and the mountains rising nowhere (1977)
The Awakening Hour (2017)
Beyond Autumn (tr. Miles) (2006)
Concerto for Percussion (tr. Boysen Jr.) (1997)
From a Dark Millennium (1980)
In evening's stillness... (1996)
Luminosity: Concerto for Wind Orchestra (2015)
Music of Amber (1981)
New Morning for the World (tr. Pilato) (1982/2007)
Recoil (2004)
Sparrows (1979)

Resources

Higbee, Scott. (2003). "Joseph Schwantner" from A Composer's Insight." Galesville, MD: Meredith Music.
Joseph Schwantner website
Pilato, Nikk. (2007). A Conductor's Guide to Wind Music of Joseph Schwantner Doctoral Dissertation.
Renshaw, Jeffrey H. "Recoil." In Teaching Music through Performance in Band. Volume 6, edit. & comp. by Richard Miles, 852-862. Chicago: GIA Publications, 2007.
Renshaw, Jeffrey. (1991). Schwantner on Composition. Instrumentalist, 45(6)
Schwantner, J. (2004). Recoil: For Wind Ensemble [score]. Schott Helicon Music: New York.