| dc.description.abstract | "Suite for Wind Ensemble" consists of three movements, each of which contains a main theme and several smaller themes. Each main theme is introduced within the first minute of the movement, and the main themes from the first and second movements recur at significant points in the subsequent movements. Smaller themes also recur, but less prominently and more subtly. At the climax of the second movement, three themes occur simultaneously, one from the first movement and two from the second, and at the end of the third movement, material from the second movement recurs almost exactly, followed by the first movement's main theme in a harmonic context starkly opposed to its initial occurrence. Shifting the harmonic context of previously-heard material is central to the piece's identity. The first movement contains thick, dissonant harmonies and many polychords; the second movement features more tonal music in contrast with dissonant passages, some of which are recalled from the first movement; and the third movement is almost entirely consonant, in some moments bordering on tonal, though the perceived tonality shifts frequently. The main theme from the first movement is transformed harmonically as the piece progresses. In its first several occurrences, it sounds at first like it's in minor but ends indisputably atonally. By the end of the second movement, it has become almost tonal, similar to a tonal answer (as opposed to a real answer) in Baroque music. In the last minute of the third movement, it sounds like it's in Lydian, completing a transformation from dark and atonal to completely tonal and "super-major". On a large scale, the piece is an experiment to see how audiences respond to dissonant music that gradually morphs into more accessible, straightforward music. | |
