Bifrost
Subtitle: To Carl St. Clair, in memory of our dear friend Christopher Rouse
General Info
Year: 2021
Duration: c. 11:50
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Jude Vaclavik
Cost: Score and Parts – Rental
Instrumentation
Original instrumentation
Full Score
Flute
Oboe
Bassoon
Contrabassoon
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Trumpet
Horn in F I-II
Trombone
Piano
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Glockenspiel
- Suspended Cymbal
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Alternate instrumentation
Full Score
Flute
Oboe
B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II
B-flat Bass Clarinet
E-flat Alto Saxophone
E-flat Baritone Saxophone
B-flat Trumpet
Horn in F I-II
Trombone
Piano
Percussion, including:
- Bass Drum
- Glockenspiel
- Suspended Cymbal
- Vibraphone
- Xylophone
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
Bifrost is a tribute to my mentor and friend Christopher Rouse, written at the request of Maestro Carl St. Clair, to whom the work is dedicated.
In the early 1990s, Rouse composed a batch of works triggered by the sudden passing of those whose lives impacted him profoundly. My love of Chris’s music blossomed through the discovery of these pieces. It is an honor to memorialize Chris through a work of my own.
It felt fitting to look to Norse mythology for this tribute, following Chris’s propensity for writing works after these tales and the lore of other cultures. The Bifrost is a rainbow bridge that connects Earth and the Norse kingdom of the Gods, Asgard. The concept of the Bifrost, which acts as a portal between the realms of men and Gods, was a source of inspiration for my composition. Bifrost is an abstract portrayal of one’s voyage into an afterlife, from the final moments in the physical body to the arrival upon the farther shore, the spirit’s place of repose.
Bifrost comprises short and continuously evolving sections performed without break, lasting approximately 12 minutes in total duration. The work was completed in Houston, Texas, on August 31, 2021, through the generosity of a consortium of commissioners led by Carl St. Clair and the University of Southern California Thornton School.
- Program Note by composer
Media
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Performances
To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project
- University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) Symphony Band Chamber Winds (Richard Frey, conductor) - 31 January 2025
- Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) Wind Symphony (James Spinazzola, conductor) - 7 May 2022
- Cornell University (Ithaca, N.Y.) Wind Symphony (James Spinazzola, conductor) – 18 February 2022 (CBDNA 2022 Eastern Conference, Baltimore, Md.)
- New England Conservatory (Boston, Mass.) Wind Ensemble (Charles Peltz, conductor) - 26 October 2021
- University of Southern California (Los Angeles) School of Music (Carl St. Clair, conductor) – 9 October 2021 *Premiere Performance*
Works for Winds by This Composer
- Bifrost (2021)
- Percussion Quartet
- Shock Waves (2012)
Resources
- Jude Vaclavik website. Accessed 24 October 2021
- New England Conservatory Wind Ensemble concert program, 26 October 2021
- Perusal score