Total Praise

A woodwind quartet for Flute, oboe, and two clarinets with optional parts for flute and alto sax. Plus a set of fifth parts for bassoon or bass clarinet can allow for the piece being a quintet. The first statement is in the clarinets where it leads into a full ensemble passing the lines amongst the parts. A delightful little segue leads to a modulation where the tune is in the lower lines alternated with flourishes in the flutes. This Alternating texture carries on for some time. Then the tempo picks up for a vibrant exclamation where the theme is once again bantered about where it makes one final boast and concludes.

Scored for traditional brass quintet, an optional bartione part can be used to expand the piece to a sextet. After an opening upper brass fanfare, the lower parts present the theme in solemn fashion with further extended fanfares from the upper lines. The middle section reverses the stylistic assignments only to be given back to the opening styles. The with a powerful stacking of parts the piece concludes in a triumphant chord.

(2fl,2cl+5th pts)

This quintet (opt. Sextet) begins with extraneous motifs leading into the first statement of the theme in the low brass offset by answering material in the trumpets. The pieces continues in this question and answer texture passing motivic material around the parts. Then in a transition mimicking the beginning a modulation takes place where the theme is more expressive and becomes more aggressive leading up to a majestic coda where it ends on a thought-provoking conclusion.

A traditional quintet with optional sixth part baritone, this driving arrangement passes the melodic material constantly around the ensemble. A fun piece to play!