cindy mctee
TEMPUS FUGIT
for wind symphony
2011
9.5 minutes
the second of two movements from Double Play
Adaptation for wind symphony commissioned by
a consortium of institutions and affiliated conductors:
Jeju International Wind Ensemble
Festival Organizing Committee
Lone Star Wind Orchestra - Eugene Migliaro Corporon
Ohio University - Andrew Trachsel
Pacific Lutheran University - Edwin Powell
Sam Houston State University - Matthew McInturf
Southern Methodist University - Jack Delaney
University of North Texas - Eugene Migliaro Corporon
Consortium coordinator: Eugene Corporon
Premièred by: the Lone Star Wind Orchestra
Eugene Corporon, conductor
November 21, 2010
at the Eisemann Center in Richardson, Texas
______________________
Original orchestral version commissioned by
the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
in honor of Elaine Lebenbom
Dedicated to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
and its music director, Leonard Slatkin
______________________
Support also provided by the Institute for Advancement of the Arts
at the University of North Texas.
Piccolo
Flutes 1-2
Oboes 1-3
Clarinet in Eb
Clarinets in Bb 1-3
Bass Clarinet
Eb Contra-alto Clarinet
Saxophones SATB
Bassoons 1-3
4 Horns
Trumpet 1 in Bb and C
Trumpets 2-3 in Bb
Euphonium 1-2
Tenor Trombones 1-2
Bass Trombone
Tuba
Timpani
Percussion 1-5
Double BassPercussion 1
Bongos
Conga
Guiro
Hi-hat
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbals
(large and small)
Triangle (large)
Vibraslap (mounted)
Woodblocks (2)Percussion 2
Cowbells (4)
Shaker
Sizzle Cymbal (medium)
Snare Drum
Suspended Cymbals
(large and small)
Tambourine
Triangle (medium)
Woodblocks (2)Percussion 3
Bass drum
Castanets
Mark Tree
Ratchet
Suspended Cymbal (large)
Temple Blocks (5)
Tom-toms (4)
Vibraslap (mounted)
Woodblocks (2)Percussion 4
Marimba
Percussion 5
Marimba
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Originally commissioned by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in honor of Elaine Lebenbom,Tempus Fugit is the second of two movements from McTee's Double Play. The wind symphony version was commissioned by a consortium of wind ensembles and premièred on November 21, 2010 by the Lone Star Wind Orchestra, Eugene Corporon, conductor.
Tempus Fugit, Latin for "time flees" but more commonly translated as "time flies," is frequently used as an inscription on clocks. My Tempus Fugit begins with the sounds of several pendulum clocks ticking at different speeds and takes flight about two minutes later using a rhythm borrowed from Leonard Slatkin's Fin for orchestra. Jazz rhythms and harmonies, quickly-moving repetitive melodic ideas, and fragmented form echo the multifaceted and hurried aspects of 21st-century American society.
DOUBLE PLAY
for orchestraThe Detroit Symphony Orchestra's season finale Thursday night felt more like a season opener -- a party, a weekend celebration festooned with glittering masterworks displayed in heady performances. Indeed, there was something to celebrate: the conclusion of conductor Leonard Slatkin's very successful first full year as the DSO's music director. And Slatkin was on the podium, presiding over a generous and splendid mix of music old and new.
The new came first, in the world premiere of Cindy McTee's "Double Play," an ambitious, imaginative and altogether irresistible essay for large orchestra in two movements of head-turning brilliance. "Double Play" brought this year's DSO Elaine Lebenbom Prize to McTee, who teaches at the University of North Texas.
The work's opening movement, an homage to Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question," is called the "Unquestioned Answer," and it unfolds in sparkling harmonies and delicately layered textures reminiscent of Ives' 1906 composition. The second part of McTee's "Double Play," called "Tempus Fugit" (or Time Flies), takes a distinctly urban turn with its bluesy harmonies, tumbling syncopated rhythms and brisk tempos.
The two movements are linked by a rhythmically intricate rapping on wood blocks evocative of a cluster of clocks, each ticking to its own beat -- much like the opening scene in the film "Back to the Future."
But what makes McTee's work so compelling is the sheer magic of her orchestral writing. The orchestra is her canvas and she paints on it with the confidence of a master colorist. "Double Play" runs a deceptively brief 15 minutes, a quarter hour jam-packed with energy, musical invention and pure auditory delight.
Lawrence B. Johnson
The Detroit News––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Cindy McTee's "The Unquestioned Answer," the first movement of her crafty diptych, "Double Play," begins with a soft, portentous swoosh of percussion, a primordial orchestral swell and a rising melodic gesture by vibes and harp that reaches for the stars along the leaping intervals of a major 7th and a minor 13th.
The music, wound in existential mystery, unfolds in overlapping layers: Meandering string chords crawl in the basement. Brief bursts of astringent reeds and brass shoot through the texture and a series of solos -- flute, clarinet, violin, bassoon and more -- keep posing more questions. Or maybe the same question asked many ways.
Led by music director Leonard Slatkin, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra gave the world premiere of "Double Play" on Thursday as part of the final subscription week of the season. McTee, 57, is the winner of the DSO's third annual Elaine Lebenbom Memorial Award for women composers.
The eclectic program gleefully hopped through the centuries, opening with McTee, retreating to the height of 19th-Century romanticism with Liszt's Piano Concerto No. 1 and teenage soloist Peng Peng, dropping back another 70 years to Mozart's "Haffner Symphony" and, finally, boomeranging to the 20th Century and Stravinsky's "Firebird Suite." Diversity is good, but stylistic whiplash made for some unsettling transitions, especially as McTee's sleek contemporary language gave way to Lisztian bravura.
Still, Slatkin and the DSO dove into all of the music with gusto and the 17-minute "Double Play" is one of the strongest new works that the conductor has introduced in Detroit. Insiders will pick up on her wink at Charles Ives' 100-year-old masterpiece, "The Unanswered Question." McTee riffs on Ives' collage aesthetic, his philosophical musing and recurring solo trumpet, whose probing melody McTee remolds and hands to a gaggle of soloists.
Despite the homage, the music maintains its own tension and pacing; its polished voice is spiced with just enough harmonic tannin to leave a bite in the finish. The second movement, "Tempus Fugit" ("Time Flies") opens with wood blocks in a syncopated-clock symphony that drags on too long, before exploding into a jazzy sprint of stuttering brass chords, off-beat accents and wildly undulating bass lines.
Rhythm is king here, and I was occasionally reminded of the eccentric mid-century composer Raymond Scott, whose whimsical, mechanized sound world is most familiar through Carl Stalling's Warner Bros. cartoon scores. Slatkin led a vital, rhythmically secure performance, capturing the heady vibe of the opening movement and the exciting snap of "Tempus Fugit." The soloists all distinguished themselves.
Mark Stryker
Detroit Free Press––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
The program began with something really fresh. [Tempus Fugit] starts with overlapping tick-tocks on wooden blocks and takes off from there, revving its engine for 10 lively minutes. It got a warm reception from the audience.
Harvey Steiman
The Aspen Times––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
The two-movement “Double Play” amounts to a brilliantly orchestrated exercise. Part 1, “The Unquestioned Answer,” was inspired by Charles Ives’ “The Unanswered Question,” a tradition-shattering musical essay of restrained dissonances and surreal sound patterns that still commands attention and even startles listeners a century after it was written. McTee’s tension-inducing rejoinder develops out of overlapping layers of sound, mysterious in effect, existential in suggestion just as is the Ives. There are moments of near silence, demanding solo passages, and hair-raising orchestral swells, all merging into an amalgam of portent.
Rhythmically intricate tapping of wood blocks, evocative of clocks beating to different, erratic and individual times, links “The Unquestioned Answer” to part 2, “Tempus Fugit” (“Time Flees”), a colorful, inventive adventure in subtle jazz rhythms that gains speed and force as it moves toward an exhilarating conclusion. Slatkin and company played the piece with whiplash precision and magnetic vitality. Composer McTee was present to share in the cheers-suffused ovation.
Peter Jacobi
The Herald-Times (Bloomington, IN)––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
. . . The Unquestioned Answer . . . tone ebbing and flowing with alluring color and a welcome freedom from nervous haste.
Bernard Jacobson
MusicWeb International––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
A third work was performed, in its Seattle premiere — Cindy McTee’s “Double Play.” Born in Tacoma and educated at Pacific Lutheran University as well as Yale University and University of Iowa, McTee will not be upsetting any apple carts with this piece, composed in two sections but played as one Thursday. It was premiered last year by the Detroit Symphony of which Leonard Slatkin, SSO guest conductor for the night, is the music director. The work is tonally appealing, well-crafted and oiled, making no attempt to be in fashion musically but also making no attempt to go backward in time and spirit. She has plenty of ideas which she has assembled into a coherent whole.
R. M. Campbell
The Gathering Note––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Meanwhile, Saturday night downstairs in the big hall we also heard some pretty exciting noises. Leonard Slatkin conducted a program that began well with a new piece, Cindy McTee's 'Double Play,' which was premiered last June in Detroit, also under Slatkin's baton. The composer managed the huge orchestra with exciting imagination and skill. An amazing palette of delicious sounds unfolded, while an expanded percussion section peppered it all with a lot of fun. The composer took a well-deserved bow.
Rod Parke
Seattle Gay News––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
But under this radar of the obvious flies a wonderful surprise, in the form of a newish work by Northwest-born composer Cindy McTee. "Double Play" for Orchestra, premiered less than a year ago by Slatkin in Detroit, is an absolutely crackerjack piece, one of those rare works that is immediately accessible without saccharine. The first hearing is deeply satisfying, with enough substance and delight to invite repeated listening.
The first movement, "The Unquestioned Answer," plays with the themes of Charles Ives' "The Unanswered Question," with fascinating textures from the percussion section and an air of mystery from the harmonic bed of strings. The second movement, "Tempus Fugit," has enough drive and energy to give the "Peter Gunn" theme a run for its money. As the Latin title suggests, time flies, as do violin bows. The composer was at the concert on Thursday night, and she must have been pleased with both the performance and the enthusiastic response.John Sutherland
The Seattle Times