Landmarks
Michael Wittgraf
About this work:
Landmarks
for concert band
by Michael Wittgraf
Completed 30 October, 2007
Program Notes
Landmarks in its original form for orchestra was completed in February of 2007. This version, for concert band, was completed eight months later. The band version is identical to the orchestra version in terms of notes and form, but in places the instrumentation has been significantly altered in order to utilize fully the capabilities of a concert band.
Landmarks was written in commemoration of the tenth anniversary of the flood of 1997 in the greater Grand Forks region of North Dakota and Minnesota. The music is not meant to depict specific events, but rather to evoke the passage of time. All things change as time progresses. Some things end, some things begin. People come and people go. Traditions change, fads pass, we take the good with the bad.
On the other hand, amid the constant flow of change lie objects and events that remain with us. Some things resist the passage of time. Memories stay with us. Old habits, good or bad, die hard. Things and events that stay with us are landmarks that guide and comfort as we navigate the river of time.
As the music of “Landmarks” progresses, it changes, moving from idea to idea, theme to theme, sound to sound, until at the end, we are in a vastly different place than we were at the beginning. Even so, familiar musical landmarks make appearances throughout, reminding us of where we were. Some landmarks reappear unchanged, while others are transformed and used as building blocks for new material, creating a sense of continuity and familiarity in the new. In fact, Landmarks is about familiarity alongside the new, familiarity among the new, and familiarity within the new.
Landmarks is approximately twelve minutes in length. There are three distinct sections, the first of which is unstable, rhythmically unpredictable, and exploits a dissonant, 3-note, minor-sounding sonority.
The second section is rhythmically active, agitated, and passes through tonal centers hurriedly. The three-note minor sonority continues to be the featured sonic event, though somewhat altered.
The third section is much calmer and broader than anything in the previous two sections. In fact, it is almost static in comparison. The three-note sonority has been transformed into a less dissonant, major-sounding one. This section places the spirit of late nineteenth century orchestral music in the context of jazz harmonies.
Both the original orchestral version and the band version were funded in part by the American Music Center’s Composer Assistance Program.
Version: Concert Band
Year composed: 2007
Duration: 00:12:00
Ensemble type: Band:Concert band
Instrumentation:
Instrumentation notes: Variable instrumentation with several optional parts. Small to large concert band.