Gnomics (score & parts) - FL/OB/CL

Gnomics
for flute, oboe, and clarinet
by Richard Wilson (b. 1941) - American composer Gnomic verse is poetry containing maxims or aphorisms. It is associated with a school of Greek poets in the 6th century BCE. Although no expert in this literature, I was attracted to the word and thought it somehow fit the three woodwind pieces at hand. I am afraid they are somewhat whimsical pieces, the first two especially. They lack individual titles, but the first could be thought of as a prelude, the second a scherzo, and the third- the most extended-a madrigal, in which passages of homophony and polyphony alternate. With the exception of solos for the flute near the end of the first piece and at the start of the third, the texture remains fairly consistent in its three voices as I am particularly taken with the blended sound of flute, oboe, and clarinet. Gnomics was given its premiere in the Taylor Art Gallery at Vassar College on April 2nd, 1982 by Bertha Frank, flute, Margaret Holfer, oboe, and Meyer Kumpferman, clarinet.
-- Richard Wilson