This unusual combination of wind instruments was inspired by my fantastic faculty colleagues at The University of Akron
In the opening movement, Ghouls and Sprites, the five instruments weave a mystical web through a dark fantastic ghoulish world. From time to time, they arrive at a sunlit clearing, where happy sprites dance with eternal glee.
Passages presents a dreamlike journey in C-sharp minor, going through trails of the psyche, paths of the spirit, and passages of time.
The last movement, Dithlaka, is named for an ancient Southern African tradition of the Khoisan people, preserved today among the Tswana nation, is the dithlaka reedpipe dance. A group of 15-20 men play on edge-tone pipes (the sound is produced by blowing across the top of the instrument). Traditionally, these are made of reed, nowadays more likely a piece of metal tubing. The pipes are tuned to the pentatonic scale (E-G-A-B-D), but each player gets a unique pitch, often adjusting with beautiful nuance from the actual scale, and plays that pitch for the whole dance. In imitating the sound, I gave each member of my quintet several unique pitches, resulting in some fabulous cacophonies! My inspiration came from a recording of Ngwaketse men made in Botswana in 1959. It includes singing, to the lyrics “You women who can’t cook, tell us where the noise is,” the idea being that where there is noise, there must be a good party.
Kimberly Zaleski, flute
Jack Cozen Harel, oboe
Stanislav Golovin, clarinet
Todd Gaffke, alto saxophone
Cynthia Cioffari, bassoon
Performance on the New Music Ensemble concert of 2 April 2024
