Desert Wind
Gernot Wolfgang
About this work:
Listen to audio excerpts at:
http://gernotwolfgang.com/concert/Desert_Wind_compl.asp
Published by Doblinger Music Publishers of Vienna, Austria as a rental (contact: rent@doblinger.at).
Commissioned by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, with additional support from Subito, the quick advancement grant program of the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the American Composers Forum, in partnership with the American Composers Forum of Los Angeles.
Premiered on May 19, 2007 by the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Jeffrey Kahane, at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, CA.
Listen to the complete May 20, 2007 performance at Royce Hall, UCLA, Los Angeles:
http://symphonycast.publicradio.org/programs/2007/10/15/
REVIEW:
LACO produces a cool Desert Wind
by Richard S. Ginell
Special to the Los Angeles Times
" ... [Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra music director Jeffrey] Kahane was back just in time to unveil the latest LACO Sound Investment commission, a 14-minute tone poem by Austrian-born, Los Angeles-based composer Gernot Wolfgang called "Desert Wind". Talk about a fortuitous title. Desert Winds have been very much on our minds lately, what with the ominously early arrival of the Santa Anas accompanied by wildfires in Griffith Park and Gorman.
Wolfgang's arresting, jazz-drenched new score seemed to capture at once the realities and myths of Los Angeles during fire season.
The winds themselves were exactingly summoned up by the swirling strings and horns, with a snare drum rat-ta-tatting away. At other times, the strings were caught in a state of sustained unresolved tension, animated by chugging grooves in the percussion. There was a jazzy French horn solo for Richard Todd and a tricky oboe solo for Allen Vogel, who stood when they played as if in a big band.
The sustained string tension and percussion punctuations reminded one of the music of another transplanted local notable, William Kraft. This piece could also serve as the score for an archetypical 1950s L.A. detective thriller - music that's somehow cool and sultry at the same time, suggesting danger in the palm tree paradise. Wherever your imagination takes you, Wolfgang provides the fuel - Desert Wind ought to have legs beyond its premiere."
Year composed: 2007
Duration: 14:00:60
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Chamber Orchestra
Instrumentation: 2 Flute, 1 Oboe, 1 English Horn, 2 Clarinet, 1 Bassoon, 1 Contrabassoon, 2 Horn in F, 2 Trumpet, 2 Percussion (General), 1 Strings (General)
Instrumentation notes: French Horn solo is notated, but can also be improvised