Urban Bird
Victoria Bond
About this work:
This concerto is based on Charlie Parker’s Au Privave and John Coltrane’s Blue Trane. Structured as a dramatic tone poem, Urban Bird portrays a street musician playing on a subway platform whose music is continually drowned out by the passing trains.
“It is very late at night. Imagine a deserted subway platform in New York City; a street musician playing solos in the dark. He has heard plenty of Charlie Parker and more than a little John Coltrane. He is playing his heart out for no one but himself. Imagine trains roaring through the station frequently drowning him out. Imagine that he not only continues playing but that he integrates the sounds of the trains into his solos. His music transforms the dingy cavern into a magic place. Commuters rush into the train which tears away into the dark tunnel. When quiet returns, the musician’s notes forlornly drift down around him.” Ann Arbor Symphony
“As close as an instrumental piece can get to an actual opera. Incredibly effective.” San Francisco Bay Times
“Urban Bird is a real declaration of dedication of your composer self. It has ambition, boldness and sheer confidence. Something I appreciate especially is the amount of fine-work and detail, which in the middle part pays off. It is an expressive contrapuntal web, sustained over quite a span. I also like the drama of the opening. This seems to be a whole new V. Bond composer.” John Harbison
“Urban Bird is first-rate. Lonely as hell, as you intended. Very effective. Well done.” Harold Prince
“This is the type of piece and the style of charismatic solo playing that keeps audiences returning to our series. I received many expressions of delight and interest from our constituency about this work and the soloist. This composition’s dramatic nature, its relationship to jazz, its virtuosic writing for the saxophone and a powerful personal presentation by Cynthia Sikes obviously struck a sympathetic nerve with our audience.” Miriam Abrams, manager Women’s Philharmonic
Version: alto saxophone and orchestra
Year composed: 1993
Duration: 00:20:00
Ensemble type: Orchestra:Orchestra with Soloist(s)
Instrumentation: 2 Flute, 2 Oboe, 2 Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 4 Horn in F, 4 Trumpet, 3 Trombone, 1 Tuba, 1 Timpani, 2 Percussion (General),
Instrumentation notes: Soloist: alto saxophone
alto sax.2(1).2(eh).2(bcl).2-4.4.3.1-timp.2perc-str