Word on the Street
Don Freund
About this work:
Word on the Street brings “vernacular” tunes, rhythms, and attitudes to the medium of the chamber orchestra and the developmental processes beloved by composers of concert art music. This 10-minute celebration of the joys of rock and blues and counterpoint and orchestration falls into five clearly delineated sections.
Word on the Street gets down to business immediately with a bright declamatory main tune — a rising 4-note phrase answered by a syncopated riff. This tune and its chatty counterpart get a thorough work-out, moving through the choirs of the orchestra in a variety of keys and juxtapositions, building to a unison statement that suddenly slams on the brakes. The energy subsides in the following section, which features sustained solo lines over a repeated bass-line mantra that is quietly inaugurated by the violas and cellos. A sudden gear-shift opens the third section in a fast-triple feel; a surging undercurrent accompanies a sassy tune first heard in the flute and oboe. The surging expands and the tune gets edgier, erupting into a dialog between timpani and strings, and paving the way for another gear-shift, this time into a heavy triple-time heroic blues. This slower wave figure gets weightier and weightier, eventually grinding to a halt. A whispered glissando ignites the fifth and final section, a hyperkinetic chattering imitative texture that drives towards an exuberant return of the opening tune.
Year composed: 2007
Duration: 00:10:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice
Instrumentation: 2 Flute, 2 Oboe, 2 Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 2 Horn in F, 2 Trumpet, 1 Timpani, 1 Percussion (General), 1 Piano, 1 Strings (General)
Instrumentation notes: Percussion: Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Xylophone, Large Suspended Cymbal, Splash Cymbal, Hi-hat Cymbal Tambourine, 2 Bongos ,2 Timbales, Bass Drum
Strings: Vln I, Vln II, Vla, Vc, Cb