Word on the Street (2007)

Chamber Orchestra (winds in parts, piano, percussion, strings) – 11 min.
Publisher: Lauren Keiser Music Publishing

[2fl.2ob.2cl.2bn. / 2tpt.2hn. / 1perc+timp. / pno. / str.]

Audio

Score (Free Download)

Program Note

Word on the Street (2007) brings “vernacular” tunes, rhythms, and attitudes to the medium of the chamber orchestra and the developmental processes beloved by composers of concert art music. This 10-minute celebration of the joys of rock and blues and counterpoint and orchestration falls into five clearly delineated sections.

Word on the Street gets down to business immediately with a bright declamatory main tune — a rising 4-note phrase answered by a syncopated riff. This tune and its chatty counterpart get a thorough work-out, moving through the choirs of the orchestra in a variety of keys and juxtapositions, building to a unison statement that suddenly slams on the brakes. The energy subsides in the following section, which features sustained solo lines over a repeated bass-line mantra that is quietly inaugurated by the violas and cellos. A sudden gear-shift opens the third section in a fast-triple feel; a surging undercurrent accompanies a sassy tune first heard in the flute and oboe. The surging expands and the tune gets edgier, erupting into a dialog between timpani and strings, and paving the way for another gear-shift, this time into a heavy triple-time heroic blues. This slower wave figure gets weightier and weightier, eventually grinding to a halt. A whispered glissando ignites the fifth and final section, a hyperkinetic chattering imitative texture that drives towards an exuberant return of the opening tune.