Sopravvento (Against the wind)
Karen P. Thomas
About this work:
Sopravvento
(Against the wind)
for woodwind quintet and percussion
Commissioned by the National Association of College Wind and Percussion Instructors
Sopravvento is a work in three movements (fast-slow-fast) which explores both the similarities and differences in sonorities between wind and percussion instruments. While the outer two movements concentrate mainly on the differences in timbre (the first movement utilizing percussion instrments made of wood, the last using a large array of pitched and non-pitched membranophones), the slow inner movement seeks to meld the sounds of metal and glass percussion with woodwind sonorities. The first and last movements are characterized by a driving rhythm: syncopated in the first movement, moto perpetuo in the last. The contrasting second movement exhibits much greater freedom in its rhythmic structure.
The title "Sopravvento" has a double meaning: "against the wind" is obviously sailing terminology, but in this instance I think of the percussion instruments as being against or in opposition to the wind instruments. Sopravvento also means "the upper hand", as in "to get the upper hand" (prendere il sopravvento); so the listener might wonder who gets the upper hand in this piece - winds or percussion... or neither?
Year composed: 1994
Duration: 00:10:00
Ensemble type: Chamber or Jazz Ensemble, Without Voice:Other Combinations, 6-9 players
Instrumentation: 1 Flute, 1 Oboe, 1 Clarinet, 1 Bassoon, 1 Horn in F, 1 Percussion (General)
Instrumentation notes: fl, ob, Bb cl, hn, bn, perc