Place Your Bets (Woodwind Quintet) (2005)

 

Place your Betswas commissioned by Category 5, the resident Woodwind Quintet of the University of Southern Mississippi. The premiere is scheduled for spring, 2011.

 

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

 

Publisher: American Composers Edition

 

Duration: 13 minutes

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Program notes:

In May 2006, Danilo Mezzadri premiered my Divertimento for Solo Flute, Winds, and Percussion with the University of Southern Mississippi Wind Ensemble, Frank Fraschillo conducting. During my brief visit to Hattiesburg for the performance, I met four of the five members of Category 5, the resident woodwind quintet at USM. These performers expressed their eagerness to tackle challenging new compositions, and over the course of the next few months Danilo Mezzadri encouraged me to write a quintet for them. I have done it. What a pleasure it was to compose knowing that some of the finest performers in the country would prepare the first performance of my new quintet.

Over the past year the idea of games or sports has provided the impetus for two of my compositions. In May 2006, I completed a concerto for clarinet and wind ensemble titled GAMES. Its five movements are labeled Checkmate, Table Tennis, Sky Diving, Bicycle Race, and Trampoline.

Now, with this my first woodwind quintet, the focus is on the casino with three of its games of chance: the roulette wheel, poker, and slot machines. Profound? No. Fun? I hope so. The roulette wheel of the first movement seems to sputter along like a fairly well oiled machine, but it’s a quirky machine. The poker players of the second movement seem to have plenty of ups and downs: rushes of excitement, followed by periods of deep depression. The slot machine, like the roulette wheel, is just another machine. This machine has its own personality. Does the Blue-Haired Lady win or lose? Place your bets!

Return to main list