Audio courtesy of Dr. John W. Parks IV and Garnet House Productions - performed by the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble.
Benjamin Finley’s Evergreen is an expressive, virtuosic work for solo marimba. In this ensemble arrangement, Luis Rivera skillfully adapts Finley’s material with a blend of groove, lyricism, and beautiful orchestration. The piece utilizes an expansive array of instruments, anchored by marimbas, and features solo sections for two vibraphone performers. Numerous types of wind chimes are recommended (keys, glass, conventional) along with rainstick and a variety of cymbal, shaker, and bowed vibraphone colors.
Filled with meter changes and tightly-woven interactivity, this piece is for experienced ensembles with a penchant for blending groove and timbre control.
This piece comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for printing or for tablet viewing.
Evergreen was originally composed for solo marimba by Benjamin Finley. In this ensemble arrangement, commissioned by Dr. John W. Parks IV for the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, Luis Rivera has orchestrated the original solo over five marimba voices, added an infectious groove, albeit over consistently changing time signatures, and embellished the wooden timbre with a variety of metal and other sounds.
Eight players in the ensemble are each responsible for a single keyboard instrument and in some cases an accessory instrument or two. The single non-pitched percussionist is essentially performing a drumset part without any low voices, creating groove and time with the cymbals, shaker, and occasional snare drum backbeat. All keyboard parts are playable with two mallets, but the writing is active, syncopated, and full of articulations and phrasing marks that require advanced players to accurately realize. Two cello or bass bows are required briefly in one vibraphone part, and there are solo sections for each vibraphone player that are fully notated, but “can be improvised by the vibraphonists if they feel comfort-able enough to do so.”
Because of the variety of and consistently changing time signatures, mature percussionists with a solid sense of time and ensemble awareness are required for this arrangement, but they would likely find it to be a rewarding and exhilarating piece to rehearse and perform.
—Josh Gottry
Percussive Notes
Vol. 54, No. 5, November 2016
Benjamin Finley’s Evergreen is an expressive, virtuosic work for solo marimba. In this ensemble arrangement, Luis Rivera skillfully adapts Finley’s material with a blend of groove, lyricism, and beautiful orchestration. The piece utilizes an expansive array of instruments, anchored by marimbas, and features solo sections for two vibraphone performers. Numerous types of wind chimes are recommended (keys, glass, conventional) along with rainstick and a variety of cymbal, shaker, and bowed vibraphone colors.
Filled with meter changes and tightly-woven interactivity, this piece is for experienced ensembles with a penchant for blending groove and timbre control.
This piece comes as a professionally printed and bound score and includes individual parts in PDF format for printing or for tablet viewing.
Evergreen was originally composed for solo marimba by Benjamin Finley. In this ensemble arrangement, commissioned by Dr. John W. Parks IV for the Florida State University Percussion Ensemble, Luis Rivera has orchestrated the original solo over five marimba voices, added an infectious groove, albeit over consistently changing time signatures, and embellished the wooden timbre with a variety of metal and other sounds.
Eight players in the ensemble are each responsible for a single keyboard instrument and in some cases an accessory instrument or two. The single non-pitched percussionist is essentially performing a drumset part without any low voices, creating groove and time with the cymbals, shaker, and occasional snare drum backbeat. All keyboard parts are playable with two mallets, but the writing is active, syncopated, and full of articulations and phrasing marks that require advanced players to accurately realize. Two cello or bass bows are required briefly in one vibraphone part, and there are solo sections for each vibraphone player that are fully notated, but “can be improvised by the vibraphonists if they feel comfort-able enough to do so.”
Because of the variety of and consistently changing time signatures, mature percussionists with a solid sense of time and ensemble awareness are required for this arrangement, but they would likely find it to be a rewarding and exhilarating piece to rehearse and perform.
—Josh Gottry
Percussive Notes
Vol. 54, No. 5, November 2016