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Through a variety of smooth blended keyboard textures, juxtaposed angular percussive motives, and cold metallic punctuation, Glacier by Benjamin Finley tells the story of a typical geologic “day” in the life of a glacier. Written for 13 players at an advanced level, balance in the ensemble and within the full dynamic spectrum is key to the success of this programmatic work, which bears the subtitle “In Memoriam: John Muir.” America’s most famous and influential naturalist and conservationist, Muir and his supporters formed the Sierra Club “to make the mountains glad.” This work written in his honor is sure to make players and listeners glad too.
Use of this product is governed by the license terms outlined here.
“Glacier” is a massive, thickly orchestrated advanced percussion ensemble work that is reminiscent and programmatic of a typical “day” in the life of an Alaskan glacier. Scored for 13 players and a large collection of instruments, this is a challenging piece impressively commissioned by a high school. I would be cautious of programming this work with a standard high school ensemble because of the instrumentation and technical demands required of many individual parts (four mallets in the marimba and vibraphone parts, multiple tuning changes in the timpani, and complex polyrhythmic textures).
The piece begins with gentle marimba rolls and soft drumming fragments. It builds to a sixteenth-note based flowing section and slowly evolves into a drumming interlude. This section, marked “with primal vitality,” builds into a beautiful, floating 9/8. It concludes as it began and uses a polyrhythmic texture to create an icy, wind-like ending.
This certainly looks like a work best suited for a university-level ensemble that can really be expressive, rhythmically precise, and shape the musicality that the composer intended.
–Dave Gerhart
Percussive Notes
Vol. 52, No. 3, May 2014
Through a variety of smooth blended keyboard textures, juxtaposed angular percussive motives, and cold metallic punctuation, Glacier by Benjamin Finley tells the story of a typical geologic “day” in the life of a glacier. Written for 13 players at an advanced level, balance in the ensemble and within the full dynamic spectrum is key to the success of this programmatic work, which bears the subtitle “In Memoriam: John Muir.” America’s most famous and influential naturalist and conservationist, Muir and his supporters formed the Sierra Club “to make the mountains glad.” This work written in his honor is sure to make players and listeners glad too.
Use of this product is governed by the license terms outlined here.
“Glacier” is a massive, thickly orchestrated advanced percussion ensemble work that is reminiscent and programmatic of a typical “day” in the life of an Alaskan glacier. Scored for 13 players and a large collection of instruments, this is a challenging piece impressively commissioned by a high school. I would be cautious of programming this work with a standard high school ensemble because of the instrumentation and technical demands required of many individual parts (four mallets in the marimba and vibraphone parts, multiple tuning changes in the timpani, and complex polyrhythmic textures).
The piece begins with gentle marimba rolls and soft drumming fragments. It builds to a sixteenth-note based flowing section and slowly evolves into a drumming interlude. This section, marked “with primal vitality,” builds into a beautiful, floating 9/8. It concludes as it began and uses a polyrhythmic texture to create an icy, wind-like ending.
This certainly looks like a work best suited for a university-level ensemble that can really be expressive, rhythmically precise, and shape the musicality that the composer intended.
–Dave Gerhart
Percussive Notes
Vol. 52, No. 3, May 2014
