Memento(2015)
for wind ensemble
Prior to my final semester as a graduate conducting student at the University of South Florida, Dr. Matthew McCutchen asked if I would be interested in composing a new work for the concert band for me to conduct at their final concert of the year. I was honored and thus I immediately accepted. I wanted this composition to reflect this opportunity and many others that I had while at USF; I wanted this new work to serve as a Memento for my time in graduate school.
The work is built in 3 sections: a very celebratory feel at the beginning and end with a more trying section in between. The most prominent motif in this work is a four note idea first outlined by the vibraphone in the opening measures. These four notes serve as the foundation for many of the melodies found in the work. The chorale-like idea (first heard at measure 45) should be powerfully lush while the woodwind ascending flurry occurring simultaneously should just be powerful! The sinister middle section is also built from the four note motif with only one difference (fourth note is a minor sixth instead of a perfect fifth above tonic).
Commissioned by and dedicated to Dr. Matthew McCutchen,
Director of Bands at the University of South Florida