Burn

Instrumentation Bb clarinet, violin, violoncello, percussion, piano
Percussion requirements vib, triangle, susp. cymbal, sizzle cymbal, snare dr, med. tamtam

Timing 12′

Composed 2008

Commissioned by Standing Wave

World Premiere May 15, 2008, Roundhouse, Vancouver, British Columbia. Standing Wave

Recorded by Standing Wave on Liquid States

Recognition Western Canadian Music Award nomination, Classical Composition of the Year 2013

Programme Notes

Well-crafted music comes in all shapes and sizes. As a composer, I cannot help but be influenced by the wide range of music around me-the music I grew up with, the music I know, and the music that comes to me as a new discovery.

I am fascinated with how composers working in different genres can use the same musical materials with completely different results. Toni Tennille’s Keeping Our Love Warm–a skilfully written “pop” song that includes elements which step outside that style’s very standardised boundaries–provided my starting point. In writing Burn, I took many of the same musical materials and filtered them through my own musical voice. The resulting work, in five connected sections (each rooted in one note of the song’s opening pentatonic scale), sounds completely unlike its inspiration, yet shares on some level the same spirit, and pays homage both to the music that shaped my developing ears and to composers everywhere who strive to create good music in all its forms.

Burn was commissioned by Standing Wave. It is dedicated to AK, Becky, Peggy, Allen and Vern; and to Toni Tennille and Daryl Dragon, whose music still plays in my head.

PDF perusal score

Audio

Video

Burn performed by Standing Wave at the Western Canadian Music Awards Classical Showcase concert in Calgary, Canada, October 2013. With an introductory talk by the composer. Courtesy of the Canadian Music Centre Prairie Region.

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Study score $25 print, $15 PDF
Parts $52 print, $32 PDF
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