(live recording of a rehearsal) Erik Gratton, flute; Roger Wiesmeyer, oboe; Lee Levine, clarinet; Radu Rusu, horn; Gil Perel, bassoon, Nov. 2005
MP3 recording WAV recording
In 1990 I wrote several works for my friend Fred Robinson who was the
composer/arranger at Warner Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. Among these was a
work for jazz band (The Popular Music of Planet X), a movement for brass
quintet, and a short woodwind quintet. The Air Force didn’t seem to appreciate
the effort, and the score and parts were returned. (When you bomb with the Air
Force….you REALLY BOMB!)
In 1991, all of my scores were thrown into the landfill by my landlord as I was
led off to five years in prison for LSD. I didn’t get back to composition until
2003. By then I had collected many scores from several musicians in pristine
condition, as they had never been performed. Then in 2004 I went back to most
of these scores, and I completely rewrote this woodwind quintet. My uncle,
David Vanderkooi, lives in Nashville, and at the memorial service there for my
mother Frances Westman in 2005 I met his friend oboist Roger Wiesmeyer.
He was kind enough to get other members of the Nashville Symphony together to
perform Elements of Wind and Wood that November. However, I was unable
to get to Nashville for either rehearsals or performance. I was sent a sample
recording of a rehearsal to review. It was significantly too fast in the second
and third movements, but I used Sonar to slow down the music and make a fresh
recording. As there was a mistake in the horn part in the first movement, the
recording was not together for a bit in that movement.
Unfortunately, Roger’s laptop was stolen after the performance, and it held the
only copy of the recording of the performance. As a result, all I have for now
is the digitally massaged rehearsal tape posted here. I am hoping that a
woodwind quintet will perform and record this piece before too long so that I
can present a more polished version, as well as a video.
Sometimes life is not so easy.