Fragments (score & parts) - WW8

Fragments
for woodwind octet: two oboes, two clarinets, two horns, and two bassoons
by Christopher Weait (b. 1939)- American composer, bassoonist, and pedagogue

To Mitch Clarke with thanks. Fragments was composed beginning in 1992, and worked on sporadically until 2010. It uses a compositional technique as if themes placed on a bulletin board are moved around for each instrument. The motives recall the traditional figures played when harmonies- ensembles of pairs of woodwinds and horns- were in vogue: leaping clarinet arpeggios, bouncy bassoon bass lines, sprightly rhythms and lyrical oboe melodies. The horns, however, play a corrupted version of "horn fifths" throughout without sharing it. 
Duration: 3:50