christopher winders
| A recent photo from a performance of Adagio at the Eastman Theatre, by the Eastman Philharmonia. |
Compositions |
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Click on the title for a program note or brief description of the work and a score/audio excerpt if available. |
Concerto grosso for String Quartet and Orchestra 15' (2006-08)
(3,3,3,2, 4,3,2,1,1, SQ, Strings, Timp, Perc, Pno, Hp)
Concerto grosso lies in the concerto tradition in that it places a soloist in juxtaposition to the orchestra, however in this case the soloist consists a string quartet. There are several precedents for this arrangement in the 20th C. repertoire, notably works by Morton Feldman, Mario Davidovsky and Arnold Schoenberg. The work is divided into two large sections of contrasting tempo and texture. The music opens with an agitated phrase in the first violin of the quartet which expands as the other members join culminating in the entrance of the full orchestra. The processes of contraction and expansion of musical phrases at differing speeds dominates the rest of the first large section. The piece also includes a cadenza-like passage near the center of the section allowing the players to exhibit virtuosic playing often found in the traditional concerto.
The second division of the concerto is marked by a forceful pedal point in the low brass and strings with timpani. The quartet continues to interact with the orchestra, however in this section the interaction is less antagonistic than participatory. The music consists of many strands gradually layered upon one another. Toward the end of the work the orchestra drops out for a brief cadenza-like passage. The orchestra then returns initiating a pause and a coda which brings back music from the first portion of the piece.
[Score excerpt]
Correspondence for Guitar and Processed Sound 6' (2007)
Christopher Winders' Correspondence, is scored for live guitar and recorded, processed guitar sounds. The title refers to the modes of interaction between performed and recorded parts: correspondence can occur both when two temporal events occur at the same time or can be conceived of analogously to an exchange of letters between two entities. These exchanges can be short, as in a brief exchange of emails, or much longer sections in which more elaborate ideas are explored.
Blossom for Brass and Percussion 4' (2005)
(4,3,1,1,1, Perc.)
Winner of the Eastman Fanfare Competition and premiered by t he Eastman Wind Orchestra, Kilbourn Hall.
[Score excerpt]
Dimissio Jesuitarum 6' (2005)
SATB
Based upon a Latin text drawn from Verus Jesuitarum Libellus (The True Petition of the Jesuits, 1568). The text contains charges and conjurations for all manner of Evil spirits in the rites of exorcism. Composed for Halloween, 2005.
[Score excerpt]
Variation: Lieutenant Kije 4' (2004)
Piano Solo
Commissioned by David Plyar for the Lieutenant Kije Project.
[Score excerpt]
A Meditative Response to the Date in Question . . . 11' (2004)
Four Cellos and Speaker
A Meditative Response is a rendering of a diary entry from a past life. It describes a moment in a life whose intellect can project itself into past genetic memory, back thousands of years, or into a conceptual future or a timeless present. The text arises in a brief moment, with no limits as the mind improvises upon interrelated and interconnected memories. The diary entry will be read aloud as a sonic emotive response surrounds the speaker with an auditory inner monologue.
[Score excerpt]
Music for Five Winds 10' (2003)
Single movement for wind quintet; my first piece written at Eastman.
[Score excerpt]
Three Miniatures 12' (2003)
Fl, Cl, Vc
In painting, miniatures are small-scale works of great detail and subtlety, sometimes measuring only three or four inches across. These musical miniatures were inspired by the delicate nature of such paintings, limiting the length of each movement and the amount of musical material included.
[Score excerpt]
Serenade for Viola and Guitar 13' (2002)
Serenade for viola and guitar is a five-movement work reminiscent of serenades of the 18th Century, which were multi-movement compositions of lighter musical character written for special occasions or events. Another influence was an earlier meaning of the word serenade, referring to chivalric love songs of the Renaissance sung by minstrels with plucked stringed instruments – the guitar in the present work.
[Score excerpt]
Twelve Preludes 34' (2001)
Piano Solo
A set of twleve preludes based upon the twelve-tone structure of Milton Babbitt's Semi-Simple Variations (1956). Each prelude begins on a pitch of the generating row for the entire piece.
[Score excerpt]
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