Wind River Country
Greg A. Steinke
About this work:
PROGRAM NOTES
WIND RIVER COUNTRY
for
Woodwind Quintet
Wind River Country: When we asked Greg Steinke to write a piece for us, he was then Director of the School of Music at the University of Idaho. We gave him a free hand as to style and format, and Wind River Country, based on scenes in early Wyoming, was the result. American Indian songs and tunes of the early settlers freely mix with newly composed material to provide a mosaic as varied as the region itself. The work's five movements divide into three distinct sections. The first portrays three of Wyoming's famous scenic areas: the Tetons, the Bridger Wilderness Area, and Yellowstone. The second is a moving, elegiac tribute to Sacajawea, the brave Indian woman who led Lewis and Clark on their trek to the Pacific. The final section portrays the uninhibited trappers and Indians, along with the more sedate missionaries, who gathered at the Green River to celebrate the end of the long, hard Wyoming winter. The movement closes quietly with the return of ideas from preceding movements.
The premiere performance of the work was at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming by the New World Quintet on July 1, 1986 as part of the Fifteenth Western Arts Festival. The piece was commissioned by the festival. The duration of the work is approximately 25 minutes.
Notes by
William Stacy
New World Quintet Hornist
MOVEMENTS
I. Teton Majesties
II. Bridger (Intermezzo Variante)
III. Yellowstone - Land of Many Smokes
(Fantasy - Meadows, Mudpots and Geysers)
IV. Sacajawea - In Memoriam (Aria)
V. Rendezvous! Green River (Quasi Rondo)
Year composed:
Duration: 00:00:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Woodwind Quintet
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Oboe, 1 Clarinet, 1 Bassoon, 1 Horn in F