Montgomery: Snapshots

Description

Commissioned by Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Fabio Luisi,__with generous support of the Norma and Don Stone New Music Fund

Co-Commissioned by Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Music Director Jonathon Heyward;__Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra;__Detroit Symphony Orchestra;__New Jersey Symphony Orchestra;__Seattle Symphony

The commissioners acknowledge the support of Amplifying Voices,_a New Music USA initiative which is powered by the Sphinx Venture Fund,with additional support from ASCAP, the Sorel Organization,__the Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation and the Wise Family Charitable Foundation. _

Movements:

I. ♩ = 168 II. Lively ♩ = 132 III. Meandering ♩ = 60 IV. Con fuoco ♩ = 112

INSTRUMENTATION

3 flutes (3rd doubles piccolo); 3 oboes (3rd doubles English Horn); 3 clarinets (2nd doubles E♭, 3rd doubles bass clarinet); 3 bassoons (3rd doubles contrabassoon); 4 horns; 3 trumpets; 3 trombones (3rd is bass trombone); tuba; timpani; 3 percussion (anvil, bass drum, bell (unpitched), bongos, chimes, cowbell, crotales, glockenspiel, marimba, mark tree, ratchet, snare drum, suspended cymbal, tam-tam, tom-toms (5), triangle, vibraphone, vylophone); harp; piano/celesta; strings

PROGRAM NOTE

Snapshots is part of a series of pieces I have been writing recently that are comprised of short "vignettes", each movement distinct in character and based on an imagined scene, mood, or effect. After a boisterous introductory movement, typical of my works that are inspired by dance music, the subsequent movements II and III are whimsical and playful, like peering into a diorama, precisely staged and complete, evocative of a town square where children may play boisterously, followed by a passing storm that never quite breaks. The final movement is a call to my earlier influences of film music and Ravel and Debussy string quartets.

— Jessie Montgomery