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Work


Catch the Sound

for orchestra

Year:  2018   ·  Duration:  5m 30s
Instrumentation:  2222; 4231; 5 perc.; str | (Perc: 6 tom/roto-toms [3 low 3 high], tri., cowbell, sn.dr, bongos, congas)

Year:  2018
Duration:  5m 30s
Instrumentation  2222; 4231; 5 perc.; str | ...

John Elmsly
Composer

Composer:   John Elmsly

Films, Audio & Samples

John Elmsly: Catch the Soun...

Embedded video
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Sample Score

Sample: Pages 8, 14 and 20 of score

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Borrow/Hire:

To borrow items or hire parts please email SOUNZ directly at info@sounz.org.nz.

About

In 2017 I wrote a violin concerto with a sizeable part for a solo percussionist, and some of the musical ideas inspired this piece, which took on a completely new life, particularly as I worked on making fun, challenging, yet not too intractable brass parts. Carefree and invigorating are the guiding moods, and the rattling flow of a braided river like many of our rivers is an image which sat in my mind.

I rather like, too the lines at the end of the poem 'The River in You' by Brian Turner (Victoria University Press, 2001):

.....the pull
that draws you back is the river in you
racing to keep time with the river sound.

So the piece is full of repetitions in a rondo-like mosaic: when ideas return they may be shorter, longer, altered in pitch or rhythm.



Difficulty note

Suitable for secondary school orchestras and community orchestras


Dedication note

for David Squire and the Westlake Symphony