featured soloist

This work is appropriate for Middle School bands.

Movement I. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the
beginning and the end.” (Revelation 22:13).
Interlude 1 “Ma fin est mon commencement (“My end is my beginning”)”
Movement II.“I am the door of the sheep..I am the good shepherd..”(John
10: 7-17) “Ma fin est mon commencement”
Interlude II. “I have other sheep that are not of this fold.”
Movement III. “Do not fear, only believe.” (Mark 5:36)
Interlude III. “Fare thee well and fare thee forward, Traveler!”
Movement IV. The Crystal Fountain

There are four movements, with an interlude between each. As a nod to Jerome Reed’s extensive chamber music performances, these
interludes feature various individual players from the ensemble, gathered around the keyboard.

Composer's note: “The Calm Bee in the Busy Hive” grows out of a single sonority, the strum of the guitar’s strings, retuned to evoke the overtone series of it low E. The image of the piece is of the soloist as a calm, directed force in the midst of increasing activity. The subtitle of the work and the individual movement titles underscore this meaning.

The first movement literally constructs itself in real time. The soloist is progressively surrounded by concentric layers of music, played in turn by: second guitar; vibraphone; string trio; woodwind trio; harp and piano. In addition, the music in each outer layer moves to the next outermost with each addition, like ripples in a pool. Thus, it’s a canonic structure, though with free variation of material from layer to layer. When all the instruments have entered, the movement can end.

Solo Bb Clarinet (A Clarinet part available) Flute Bb Bass Clarinet C Trumpet F Horn Violin Cello Piano Percussion (1) Timpani, Vibraphone, Bass Drum, Crotales, Snare Drum (thin shell), Splash Cymbal

The Piano Concerto No. 3 continues Melby's series of concerti, now numbering
nineteen works, but with a difference. The others, with one exception, have
substituted a computer-synthesized accompaniment for the traditional orchestra, but
this piece begins a new series of concerti for instruments with orchestra. The
concerto, composed for the phenomenal Canadian pianist Winston Choi, is cast in one
extended movement of about 25 minutes in duration and takes full advantage of
Winston Choi's astounding virtuosity, culminating in an exuberant burst of energy.

Thin Ice, for cello and fourteen players, was written for Greg Hesselink and Sequitur during the Fall of 2004 and the Spring of 2006 and is dedicated to them. My heartfelt thanks go to Harold Meltzer and Sarah Laimon for their unflagging support, and, especially, to Greg Hesselink, Paul Hostetter, and the musicians of Sequitur for their artistry and commitment.

Thin Ice divides into four movements of unequal length (played attacca (without pause)) lasting about twenty two minutes. Movements one, two and three group together as a unit. They are, each in their different ways, unsettled and restless. The fourth and most extensive movement, beginning after a brief breathing space, serves to balance the preceding movements and to ultimately provide a sense of finality and repose.

The first movement is substantial and wide-ranging. At the beginning, the cello and the strings play as if in two different meters and tempi. The 3/8 polyrhythm of the opening string pizzicati will return -- both at the end of the movement and as the meter of the second movement scherzo.

Thin Ice-Ross Bauer (excerpt) Sequitur