Vignettes (Score & Parts)-WW5

Vignettes for woodwind quintet

by Jim Self

I teach at the USC/Thornton School of Music and wanted to write a short concert piece for our excellent Scholarship Woodwind Quintet. The premiere was on campus at the Fisher Museum of Art on March 6, 2015. The musicians were: Yoon-hee Jung, flute, Marissa Honda, oboe, Edgar David Lopez, clarinet, Katelyn Benedict, horn, and Jayson Heubusch, bassoon. 

Vignettes (as the title implies) is comprised of several small sections in contrasting rhythms. The bassoon starts a fast scherzo featuring an exclamatory horn solo which is followed by an odd meter accompaniment under a clarinet solo. That slows down to a haunting 9/8 vignette developed by contrapuntal solos in all the instruments. The third vignette is in a slower 5/8 meter with jazz chords providing the harmonic base while all of the instruments float around the melodies. This also repeats twice in a development section. Finally parts of the fast scherzo return with a rush to a syncopated ending. Lots of fun!

-Jim Self

Duration: 5:15