Western Suite

From Wind Repertory Project

Adrienne Albert

Adrienne Albert


This article is a stub. If you can help add information to it,
please join the WRP and visit the FAQ (left sidebar) for information.


Subtitle: Montana Morning


General Info

Year: 2000 / 2026
Duration: c. 11:20
Difficulty: (see Ratings for explanation)
Original Medium: Orchestra
Publisher: Adrienne Albert
Cost: Score and Parts (print) - $350.00; (digital) - $275.00


Movements

Three


Instrumentation

  • Full Score
  • C Piccolo
  • Flute I-II
  • Oboe I-II
  • Bassoon I-II
  • B-flat Soprano Clarinet I-II-III
  • B-flat Bass Clarinet
  • B-flat Soprano Saxophone
  • E-flat Alto Saxophone
  • B-flat Tenor Saxophone
  • E-flat Baritone Saxophone
  • B-flat Trumpet I-II
  • Horn in F I-II-III-IV
  • Trombone I-II
  • Bass Trombone
  • Tuba
  • Timpani
  • Percussion
(Percussion detail desired)



Errata

None discovered thus far.


Program Notes

Western Suite for Wind Band was originally composed for orchestra. A warm, colorful, tuneful programmatic piece describing the West where I grew up, Western Suite (aka Montana Morning) is Coplandesque with interesting twists and turns. As a native of the American West, I have always been deeply affected by the large scale of the vast landscapes and craggy shapes that dominate our region. In Western Suite, I've attempted to draw from my well of emotional interior images and interpret them musically. I have chosen to use the programmatic (rather than absolute) language of music to paint aural pictures through open melodies and harmonies contrasted with minimalistic techniques.

Ivan Shulman heard a short piece of mine titled Buffalo Girls and encouraged me to expand it. And so the first movement of Western Suite was conceived. The Suite opens with a solo oboe playing a tranquil melody representing a sunrise, and as the sun grows in the sky, more instruments are added to fill in the harmonic landscape. A solo trumpet heralds the beginning of the work day as the strings pizzicato in syncopation to the Hoedown melody. The horns join the hoedown "dance" melody and transition into a lyrical section for solo oboe, winds and strings, conjuring up pictures of a vast, purple sky. A transition into another dancelike section using muted trombones in rhythmic contrast to a flute, clarinet, and violin trio melody carries us into another lyrical section for the strings, woodwinds, and horns. The woodwinds rhythmically pulsate in a minimalist exercise as two trumpets "converse." Their duet/dialogue is interrupted by the recapitulation of the opening theme now played by the oboe, piano, and strings. The movement closes with a flourish of motifs of the hoedown theme played in counterpoint to the pealing of tubular bells, finishing with a joyful surge of orchestral colors.

- Program Note (for orchestral version) by composer


Media


State Ratings

None discovered thus far.


Performances

To submit a performance please join The Wind Repertory Project

  • Southland Wind Ensemble (Ontario, Calif.) (George Osorio, conductor) - 21 March 2026 *Premiere Transcription Performance*


Works for Winds by This Composer


Resources

Retrieved from "https://www.windrep.org/index.php?title=Western_Suite&oldid=525320"