Return to the White City
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General Info
Year: 2012
Duration: c. 4:30
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Studio Music
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - £64.95 | Score Only (print) - £25.00
Instrumentation
Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone
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
Bass Trombone
Euphonium
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion I–II-III-IV
(percussion detail desired)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
The piece takes its name from the famous White City Stadium, situated in the London district of the same name, which was built to accommodate marathon running distances during the United Kingdom’s first hosting of the Olympic Games in 1908. It is structurally based around key physical phases of endurance in long distance running.
- Program Note from publisher
Return to the White City was commissioned by the Central Band of
the Royal Air Force in late 2011. The brief was to compose a short
concert piece celebrating Great Britain’s hosting of the 2012 Olympic
Games. Taking duration and the potentially programmatic nature of the
piece into consideration, the free form offered by a concert overture
seemed the ideal structure in which to work.
The piece catalogues four key stages that I have observed through the course of a long distance running race: the start line, separating the pack, the definition of leaders, and the push to the finish. The key difference between long distance and other track athletic events is one of size, both in terms of duration of the race and number of participants. A large pack of committed runners can create a kind of sensory bombardment in terms of sight and sound. In addition to scoring for a particularly large wind orchestra, this is represented through a musical language where contrasts in texture, timbre and rhythm outweigh any thematic development.
- Program Note by composer
Commercial Discography
Media
- Audio: Reference recording. Central Band of the Royal Air Force
- Audio: University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Wind Orchestra (Thomas G. Leslie, conductor)
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of North Florida (Jacksonville) Wind Symphony (Erin Bodnar, conductor) – 11 July 2019 - WASBE Conference (Buñol, Spain)
- Montclair (N.J.) State University Wind Ensemble (Thomas McCauley, conductor) – 21 February 2019 (CBDNA 2019 National Conference, Tempe, Ariz.)
- Wheeling (Ill.) High School Honor Band (Michael A. Malek, conductor) – 6 May 2017 (2017 Illinois SuperState Concert Band Festival)
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Ascension (2013)
- Belonging (2019)
- Concerto for Euphonium and Band (2021)
- Concerto in One Movement (2021)
- Daylight Declines (as transcriber) (2013/2022)
- Diversions on Calon Lan (2010)
- Embers (2015/2021)
- Kneller's Legacy (2022)
- Looking In (2014)
- A Midwestern Suite (2020)
- Return to the White City (2012)
- Rising Remixed (2009/2019)
- Rituals (2018)
- Stillness (2015)
- Stone, Mountain, Magic (2019)
- Watching the Wheat (2011)
- Windy City Heartbreak (2016)
Resources
- Davoren, T. (2012). Return to the White City [score]. Studio Music: London.
- Perusal score
- Tom Davoren website Accessed 4 May 2017