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Max Marsillo’s Tilting at Windmills is a thematic duet for marimba, filled with an wide range of musical genres. Rich chorale-like phrases, long melodious passages, and exciting punctuated rhythmic statements are all presented in one cohesive musical package.
With respect to instrumentation, this piece is flexible in its range, as it can be played on either 4.3-octave (low A) instruments or full 5-octave instruments. Through ossia staves or parenthetical notation, the score highlights parts that can be performed on 5-octave marimbas if available. If only one 5-octave instrument is available, it should go to Player 2.
This pieces comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual 4.3- and 5-octave PDF parts for printing or for tablet viewing.
• 2 marimbas—(low A or low C)*
*Parts for 5-octave (low C) marimbas are included, if instruments are available. This can be done either by one player or both players.
As a fan of Miguel de Cervantes’ popular novel Don Quixote, Max Marsillo’s “Tilting at Wind- mills” piqued my interest from the start. Taking thematic material from Quixote’s attack on imaginary giants, Max Marsillo and Joey Allison emphasize the imaginary battles we all have within. The piece incorporates swirling ostinatos and frequent triplet ornamentations to bring in further elements from the Spanish influences. At around five minutes, this duet is definitely a fun interplay for performers and audiences.
One of the most helpful aspects of this piece is that it comes with both a 4.3-octave and a 5-octave version for either part, meaning this piece can be played with any combination of two marimbas as long as they are both at least a low-A marimba. Another refreshing aspect of the work is the avoidance of rhythmic unison lines. This helps to create a true duet feel where both parts create their own voice in the texture, rather than the common use of sounding like a marimba being played with four hands. The clear melody distinction over an ostinato is similar to a Chopin etude or prelude, making the melodies all the more significant and a driving force for development.
Beginning with a chorale with its own dynamic arc, the piece then shoves off in C-sharp minor, driven by the rise and fall of the bass marimba’s ostinato. A descending melody with ornamentation takes us from G-sharp back to tonic over the course of several bars that then moves to a dramatic impact moment, using the ornamentation from before as fills into major hits between the two players. Returning to the bass ostinato and melody roles, the duet rumbles forward, eventually transitioning into a triple-meter feel in one. The minor waltz style here helps emphasize the familiar dance that occurs mentally for all internal struggles. This inevitably heads to a dramatic and aggressive release of tension, only to be swallowed back by the return of the beginning ostinato and melody, leading to a final dramatic chord and unison release that creates an exciting end to a tumultuous journey!
—Matthew Geiger
Percussive Notes
Vol. 59, No. 3, June 2021
Max Marsillo’s Tilting at Windmills is a thematic duet for marimba, filled with an wide range of musical genres. Rich chorale-like phrases, long melodious passages, and exciting punctuated rhythmic statements are all presented in one cohesive musical package.
With respect to instrumentation, this piece is flexible in its range, as it can be played on either 4.3-octave (low A) instruments or full 5-octave instruments. Through ossia staves or parenthetical notation, the score highlights parts that can be performed on 5-octave marimbas if available. If only one 5-octave instrument is available, it should go to Player 2.
This pieces comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual 4.3- and 5-octave PDF parts for printing or for tablet viewing.
• 2 marimbas—(low A or low C)*
*Parts for 5-octave (low C) marimbas are included, if instruments are available. This can be done either by one player or both players.
As a fan of Miguel de Cervantes’ popular novel Don Quixote, Max Marsillo’s “Tilting at Wind- mills” piqued my interest from the start. Taking thematic material from Quixote’s attack on imaginary giants, Max Marsillo and Joey Allison emphasize the imaginary battles we all have within. The piece incorporates swirling ostinatos and frequent triplet ornamentations to bring in further elements from the Spanish influences. At around five minutes, this duet is definitely a fun interplay for performers and audiences.
One of the most helpful aspects of this piece is that it comes with both a 4.3-octave and a 5-octave version for either part, meaning this piece can be played with any combination of two marimbas as long as they are both at least a low-A marimba. Another refreshing aspect of the work is the avoidance of rhythmic unison lines. This helps to create a true duet feel where both parts create their own voice in the texture, rather than the common use of sounding like a marimba being played with four hands. The clear melody distinction over an ostinato is similar to a Chopin etude or prelude, making the melodies all the more significant and a driving force for development.
Beginning with a chorale with its own dynamic arc, the piece then shoves off in C-sharp minor, driven by the rise and fall of the bass marimba’s ostinato. A descending melody with ornamentation takes us from G-sharp back to tonic over the course of several bars that then moves to a dramatic impact moment, using the ornamentation from before as fills into major hits between the two players. Returning to the bass ostinato and melody roles, the duet rumbles forward, eventually transitioning into a triple-meter feel in one. The minor waltz style here helps emphasize the familiar dance that occurs mentally for all internal struggles. This inevitably heads to a dramatic and aggressive release of tension, only to be swallowed back by the return of the beginning ostinato and melody, leading to a final dramatic chord and unison release that creates an exciting end to a tumultuous journey!
—Matthew Geiger
Percussive Notes
Vol. 59, No. 3, June 2021
