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Symphony V (Maslanka)

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David Maslanka

David Maslanka


General Info

Year: 2000
Duration: 37:05
Difficulty: VII (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Cost: Score & Parts - Rental   |   Score Only - $130.00


Movements

1. Moderate - 7:05
2. Moderate - 8:20
3. Slow - 10:15
4. Moderate - 10:10


Instrumentation

Full Score
C Piccolo
Flute I-II
Oboe I-II-III
Bassoon I-II (II doubling contra-bassoon)
Contrabassoon
E-flat Soprano Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Contra Alto Clarinet
B-flat Contrabass Clarinet
B-flat Soprano Saxophone
E-flat Alto Saxophone I-II (I doubling soprano saxophone)
B-flat Tenor Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
C Trumpet I-II-III (I doubling B-flat piccolo trumpet)
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
Trombone I-II
Bass Trombone
Euphonium I-II
Tuba
String Bass
Piano
Timpani
Percussion I-II-III-IV-V, including:

  • Anvil (small, suspended, and large)
  • Bass Drum
  • Bell Plate
  • Bongos
  • Brake Drum
  • Chimes
  • Crash Cymbals
  • Crotales
  • Frame Drum
  • Gong (3, tuned)
  • Marimba
  • Metal Pieces (hanging)
  • Orchestra Chimes
  • Snare Drum, small
  • Suspended Cymbal (large and small)
  • Tambourine (large)
  • Tam-Tam
  • Temple Blocks
  • Tenor Drum
  • Tom-Tom
  • Triangle (medium and large)
  • Vibraphone
  • Xylophone


Errata

  • Percussion I: Mvt. IV, m 38-39: Percussion 1 notated as percussion 2


Program Notes

The 371 Four-Part Chorales by J.S. Bach have become a focal point for my study and meditation. These chorales are the models for counterpoint and harmonic movement used by every beginning music theory student. I had my first encounter with them as a freshman at the Oberlin Conservatory in 1961. In 1991 I returned to singing and playing them as a daily warm-up for my composing time. Since then the Chorales have become a deep well for me, a huge access to dream space. The feeling is one of opening an unmarked door in a nondescript building, and being suddenly thrust into a different world. The Chorales are those mysterious doors to other worlds.

In the many years of my composing I have been drawn as if magnetically to the themes of loss, grief, and transformation. They have been personal issues for me, but all along the way they have touched something deeper as well. Folk music is powerful – and I include the Chorales in the folk tradition – because the same melodic impulse, touched and shaped by generations of hearts, minds and souls, moves beyond individual experience, and opens a path for the deepest of all connections.

In 1975 I had the idea to compose a Mass using the texts of the Latin Ordinary. It took me over 20 years of personal and musical development to feel ready to do this, and the Mass was composed in 1994-95. I am not a Catholic, nor even a practicing Christian, yet the Mass text was like a beacon, forecasting a long working-out process that would allow me to be clear enough to actually write the piece. From my current perspective it appears that much of my work prior to 1994 was a prelude to the Mass, and the pieces since, largely a reflection on the Mass.

Symphony No. 5 is no exception. It has been composed around three well-known Chorale melodies: Durch Adams Fall (Through Adam’s Fall) in the first movement, O Lamm Gottes, Unschuldig (O Lamb of God Without Blame) in the second, and Christ Lag in Todesbanden (Christ Lay in the Bonds of Death) in the third and fourth. The third is a meditation on the theme of “Christ entombed”, and the fourth is a full-blown fantasia on the “Christ Lag” melody. Much of the music of this symphony is urgent and insistent. I have used the words “aggravated,” “angry,” and “overwhelming” by way of description. But for all its blunt and assertive force, the symphony is not tragic. It is filled with a bright and hopeful energy. The music does not try to illustrate the story of the Mass, but rather continually speaks to the theme of transformation – the transformation of tears into power, and the victory of life over death.

- Program Note by composer


The third movement features an extended solo for euphonium.


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Michigan State University (East Lansing) Wind Symphony (Kevin Sedatole, conductor; Nathan Wood, euphonium) - 22 October 2021
  • University of Texas (Austin) Wind Ensemble (Jerry Junkin, conductor; Kevin Fenske, euphonium) – 30 November 2018
  • Dallas (Tx.) Winds (Jerry Junkin, conductor) – 18 September 2018
  • Florida State University (Tallahassee, Fla.) Wind Orchestra (Richard Clary, conductor) - 24 April 2018
  • University of Illinois (Champaign) Wind Symphony (Stephen G. Peterson, conductor) – 4 November 2017
  • Eastman School of Music (Rochester, N.Y.) Wind Orchestra (Kevin Holzman, conductor) – 3 March 2017
  • Illinois State University (Normal) Wind Symphony (Martin H. Seggelke, conductor) – 16 March 2016
  • St. Olaf College (Northfield, Minn.) Band (Timothy Mahr, conductor) – 21 March 2013 (CBDNA 2013 National Conference, Greensboro, N.C.)
  • Illinois State University (Normal) Wind Symphony (Stephen K. Steele, conductor) – 24 February 2001 (CBDNA 2001 National Conference, Denton, Tx.) *Premiere Performance*


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

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