Beyond the Brass Gates
Don Freund
About this work:
Beyond the Brass Gates Don Freund (b. 1947)
Concerto for Violin and Wind Ensemble (1998)
Gate 1 / Realm 1: “Filtered Sunlight”
Gate 2 / Realm 2: “Rustic Clockwork”
Gate 3 / Realm 3: “Heavy Hitting”
Gate 4 / Realm 4: “Plaintive Strains”
Gate 5 / Realm 5: “Tarantella”
Gate 6 / Realm 6: “Buttermilk and Honey”
Gate 7 / Realm 7: “Rough Coursing”
Duration: ca. 23 minutes
Don Freund: Beyond the Brass Gates
Program Notes
My greatest concern as I began writing this Concerto for Violin and Wind Ensemble (or Concert Band) was how to the explore the potentials of a band’s large brass section without overwhelming a solo violin. My strategy in solving this problem ultimately provided the form and the character of the work as a whole. The brass section is formally isolated from the rest of the ensemble, playing “Gates” beyond which lie a series of seven “Realms” depicted by the solo violin, woodwinds, and percussion. This form owes a great deal to Pictures at an Exhibition and Bluebeard’s Castle — Mussorgsky’s promenades and Bartok’s keys become Brass Gates which open to display fantasy worlds, the variegated domains ruled by the solo violin.
The first brass gate, a brisk but stately fanfare, opens onto a vast, warm realm, “Filtered Sunlight,” dominated by sweeping lyricism and flickering triadic tremolos. Gate 2 interrupts with urgent brass repeated notes opening to Realm 2: “Rustic Clockwork,” a mechanism populated by the violin’s disjunct harmonics pitted in hockets against the insistent rhythms and lines of the winds and percussion. Gate 3 allows the brass to be heard in a rich, expressive choral style, surprised by the exposure of Realm 3: “Heavy Hitting,” a hard rocking episode in heavy triple meter. The stuttering end of this realm stumbles onto Gate 4, a montage of thick, dense brass clusters supported by gongs and tamtams, clearing to uncover the low solo violin and Realm 4: “Plaintive Strains,” built around a sighing melodic subject. Gate 5 relieves this sultry mood with a bright, canonic fanfare, superseded by the even faster swirling dance of Realm 5: “Tarantella.” Gate 6 has the brass chanting throbbing chord progressions to unveil Realm 6: “Buttermilk and Honey,” featuring a perky but bittersweet tune in the violin over an undulating, harmonically rich backdrop. Gate 7 grows seamlessly out of this realm, with rising overlapping lines in the muted brass scaling to a dreamy height that is rudely shattered by the incursion of Realm 7: “Rough Coursing,” a bumpy ride through a rugged landscape. The intrusion of the brass at the end of this realm spurs a striking detour — a mini-cadenza for scurrying muted violin and barely audible cymbals capped by a brusque return to the rough course as the gate slams shut.
Beyond the Brass Gates was premiered March 26, 1999 by violin virtuoso Julian Ross and the Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory Wind Ensemble who commissioned the work in consortium with Bands from Indiana University and Florida State University.
Recording here is by Julian Ross, violin; Indiana University Wind Ensemble, Ray E. Cramer, conductor
Year composed: 1998
Duration: 00:23:00
Ensemble type: Band:Wind Ensemble or Band with Soloist(s)
Instrumentation: 1 Piccolo, 2 Flute, 2 Oboe, 1 Eb Clarinet, 3 Clarinet, 3 Bass Clarinet, 2 Bassoon, 2 Alto Saxophone, 1 Tenor Saxophone, 1 Baritone Saxophone, 4 Horn in F, 4 Trumpet, 3 Trombone, 1 Bass Trombone, 2 Tuba, 2 Euphonium/Tenor Tuba, 6 Percussion (General), ,1 Violin soloist(s)
Instrumentation notes: BbContrabass Clarinet may be replaced by Eb Contra Alto Clarinet or Contrabassoon