Wind Play - FL/BSN/PN

Wind Play
for flute, bassoon, and piano
by William Averitt (b. 1948) - American composer "Wind Play" was commissioned by the Virginia Music Teachers' Association and premiered at their 2002 Conference in Richmond. The title of the first movement, "Ghost Shadows" is a nod in the direction of Beethoven's great "Ghost Trio" whose opening textures the former distantly shadows. The choice of a spooky title was suggested by the fact that the VMTA Conference took place over Halloween weekend. Formally, the first movement is a sonatina, dividing in half as expositions-development/coda. The music of "Delicate Traceries", the 2nd movement, focuses on the two winds throughout, with the piano remaining almost entirely in the background. The opening section overlaps low flute with high bassoon in quiet dialogue. The second part begins with wind octaves but soon moves into a short canon led by the flute and answered by the bassoon in inversion. This builds into the movement's climax followed by a very brief return of the music for the beginning. "Pursuit (Perpetuum mobile" is a quirky, energetic rondo-finale in six equal sections: A-B-A-C-A & Coda (on B). The A sections largely center on a constantly changing interplay between the piano and winds; the B section and related Coda are syncopated and jazzy; the C section is entirely for piano alone.