Tracings

by
Steffan Brunette

Ensemble: Wind Ensemble

Solo Instrument: Piano

Grade: 5

Duration: 10:00

Year of Composition: 2014

Premiered by: Middlefield C.I. Senior Band (Tracey Luu and Nicholas Nolan, piano; Steffan Brunette, conductor)

Date of Premiere: May, 2015

Publisher: self-published

Available: Yes

How to Acquire: Composer

Links:

Sample Audio

Perusal Score 

Instrumentation

Solo Piano
Piccolo
Flutes 1,2
Oboe
B♭ Clarinets 1,2,3
B♭ Bass Clarinet
E♭ Alto Saxes 1,2
B♭ Tenor Sax
E♭ Baritone Sax
B♭ Trumpets 1,2
F Horn
Trombones 1,2
Euphonium
Tuba
8 Percussion

Score and parts available from the composer at no charge.


Program Notes:

This is the sixth “junior” concerto written for the senior ensemble at MCI. The title is a reflection of Tracey’s name, as well as her exceptional talent as a visual artist. In its conception, the lyrical middle section was composed first, inspired partly by some Japanese music that Tracey had played, mixed with the composer’s own experience with music by Brahms and Rachmaninoff. In particular, elements of the melody come from Brahms' Intermezzo in A major, Op. 118, No. 2, and the accompaniment is reminiscent of Rachmaninoff’s D major Prelude, Op. 23, No. 4.

In an attempt to create a more unified composition, the harmonic underpinning of the melody was used to create the theme for the finale. This, in turn, was abstracted to create the theme for the opening movement. The final effect is a musical statement that gradually “traces” the passacaglia theme in a vague outline in the first section, as a harmonic background in the middle section, and then emerges as the focus of the finale.

(Steffan Brunette)