Product Description
Pittsburgh Concerto (2005) was written for the Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic and is dedicated to Amy Stabenow, concert manager at Carnegie Mellons School of Music. The piece was conceived as a tribute to the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. The work contains only two specific programmatically inspired images related to Pittsburgh. They form the outer two sections of the work. The inner four sections are inspired more abstractly by various aspects of the city, its landscapes, and its people; they feature a series of solos and duets for many members of the orchestra in the manner of a concerto for orchestra.
The opening of the work is inspired by Pittsburghs history as Americas steel capital. Colors and sounds of the clangorous industrial age of Americas past are evoked. The basic musical material (a six-note cell) for the entire work is presented in this aggressive introduction. Throughout the rest of the work, this basic material is developed in ways that range from lushly romantic to aggressively athletic. The following section is marked slow, lush and features a duet first between trumpet and tuba, over warm harmonies in the orchestra. A brief duet for vibraphone and marimba leads to an extended viola solo. The next section is fast and energetic. It begins with an athletic duet for English horn and
bass trombone, followed by a ringing duet of tubular bells and crotales. The final solo is for violin, as the orchestral texture disintegrates around it.
The next section, marked slow, mystical, begins with a duet between piano and bass clarinet. A passionate horn duo follows before a passage for solo bass leads directly into the next section. This section is fragmentary and halting. An unpitched duo of bass drum and flexatone begins, leading to an aggressive and abortive duet between solo flute and bassoon. Finally, an extended cello solo closes the section.
The final part of the work is inspired by my first visit to Pittsburgh. When driving in from Pittsburgh airport (which is far outside the city), the city itself is hidden from the road by hills. Upon reaching the hills, one enters the Fort Pitt tunnel and, after a few moments, emerges from it on a suspension bridge over the Monongahela River. Late at night, this was a truly breathtaking moment as the city and its rivers emerged suddenly in a mass of glittering lights. The ecstatic rush of the lighted city at night is portrayed in this section amidst fragments from the opening, recalling the industrial past, now transformed into something
new.
Instrumentation
3 Flutes (3rd dbl. Picc.)
2 Oboes
English Horn
3 Clarinets in Bb
Bass Clarinet in Bb
2 Bassoons
Contrabassoon
4 Horns in F/Bb
3 Trumpets in Bb
2 Trombones
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion (3 players)
I: tubular bells, bass drum
II: vibraphone (motor off)
III: crotales, marimba, flexatone
(Percussion II needs two rosined bows.
Percussion III needs one rosined bow.)
Piano
Violin I
Violin II
Viola
Cello
Contrabass
(principal/solo contrabass must have machine extension to low Db)
This is the score only. The parts are available on rental from the publisher
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.