Ontario (Conductor Score and Marimba Part)

Item details

• Description +

  • Ontario is inspired by the great lake that bears its name. The Great Lakes in the northern region of the United States are beautiful, powerful, and majestic. The lakes are so grand in scope that they could be mistaken as oceans, creating a stunningly beautiful boundary between the United States and Canada. Ontario, like all of the Great Lakes, carries a history and in some cases mysteries and tales of many journeys by seafaring vessels. Each of the movements depict the mood and character that I think of when I reflect on this remarkable national treasure.

    Ontario is written for the Swedish marimba virtuoso and dear friend Johan Bridger.

    MJB

• Instrumentation +

  • Orchestra
    1 Flute
    1 Oboe and English Horn
    1 Clarinet in Bb
    1 Bassoon

    3 Percussion
    Xylophone
    Glockenspiel
    2 Congas
    Vibraphone (no motor)
    2 Bongos
    Crotales
    Chimes
    4 Tom-Toms (low-very high)
    Timpani

    Solo Marimba
    Strings

    Duration: 27 min.

    Orchestral material on hire
    Contact Edition Svitzer on mail@editionsvitzer.com for more information

• About the composer +

  • Having performed in four continents and more than forty states, Michael Burritt is one of his generation's most accomplished percussionists. He is in frequent demand performing concert tours and master classes throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, Australia and Canada. Mr. Burritt has been soloist with the United States Air Force Band, Dallas Wind Symphony, Omaha Symphony, Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, Nexus, Third Coast Percussion, Ju Percussion Group (Taiwan), Percussion Art Quartet (Germany) and the Amores Percussion Group (Spain). Mr. Burritt has three solo as well as numerous chamber recordings. In 2018 he recorded his Home Trilogy with the world renown percussion group Nexus and is soon to release a new recording of solo and chamber works by Alejandro Viñao with the Grammy Award winning Third Coast Percussion. Burritt recently premiered Fast Forward, Chamber Concerto commissioned for him in celebration of the centennial of the Eastman School of Music by Pulitzer Prize winning Composer Joseph Schwantner.
    
    He has been a featured artist at nine Percussive Arts Society International Conventions. In 1992 he presented his New York solo debut in Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall and in 1998 performed his London debut in the Purcell Room at Queen Elizabeth Hall. Mr. Burritt has extensive chamber and orchestral experience and has performed with the Chicago Chamber Musicians, The Chicago Symphony, Nexus, Third Coast Percussion and The Peninsula Music Festival Orchestra.
    
    Mr. Burritt is also active as a composer, with three concertos to his credit as well as numerous solo and chamber works for marimba and percussion. His works for solo marimba have become standard repertoire for the instrument and are frequently required repertoire on international competitions. Commissions include The World Marimba Competition in Stuttgart Germany, The Paris International Marimba Competition, Nexus and Paris Percussion Group.  Zildjian recently commissioned Mr Burritt to compose a 30 minute work in celebration of the company’s 400 years anniversary in 2023.  Mr. Burritt is published with Keyboard Percussion Publications, C. Alan, Masters Music and Innovative Percussion. Burritt is also an artist/clinician and product design/consultant for Malletech, where he has developed his own line of marimba mallets and the MJB Signature Marimba. He is an artist/educational clinician with the Zildjian Company and Evans Drum Heads and Yamaha Drums. Mr. Burritt is currently the President of Percussive Arts Society,  was a member of the Board of Directors from 1996 - 2008, was a contributing editor for Percussive Notes Magazine from 1991 – 2006 and was chairman of the PAS Keyboard Committee from 2004 – 2010.
    
    Mr. Burritt is currently holds the Paul J. Burgett Distinguished Professorship and is  Professor of Percussion at The Eastman School of Music where he is only the third person in the history of the school to hold this position. Prior to his appointment at  Eastman, Mr. Burritt was Professor of Percussion at Northwestern University from 1995-2008 where he developed a program of international distinction. Mr. Burritt received his Bachelor and Master of Music Degrees, as well as the prestigious Performers Certificate from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.

• Reviews +

  • “Ontario” places the marimbist front and center of a chamber ensemble. Scored for soloist, winds, strings, timpani, and percussion, this composition combines frenetic rhythmic energy with contemplative, lyrical chorales to captivating effect. Michael Burritt dedicated the piece to Swedish marimba virtuoso Johan Bridger. This 27-minute tour-de-force is an excellent showcase of virtuosic playing and nuanced, lyrical musicianship.

    The first movement begins with a violently pulsing marimba solo, sixteenth notes churning out insistently in gradually expanding shapes. The strings enter after a minute and a half, energetically sketching out a harmony evocative of a Bernard Hermann film score. As the marimbist descends to the lowest register of the instrument, the winds take over the melody with a syncopated theme floating over the churning sounds of the ensemble. The English horn takes up a plaintive, meditative melody while the strings accompany with pointillistic texture. The soloist’s line weaves in and out of the texture, soaring up and down the length of the instrument.

    The recapitulation of the theme occurs around minute seven, with marimba returning to opening material as the strings fade to nothing. The full force of the ensemble supports the return of the opening material, with chimes and timpani giving added emphasis to the climax of the movement. The full ensemble drops out, leaving a trio of woodwinds to trail away into a marimba phrase that decays to nothing in the upper register of the instrument.

    In the opening of the second movement, the marimba sketches out the harmonic progression of the chorale with pulsing eighth notes, which is then tunefully echoed by the strings. As the marimbist expands on this thematic material, arpeggiating the harmonies in a delicate filigree, the strings support the line with simple long tones. The winds join in as the theme develops into a buoyant 12/8 chorale with dancing cello lines in tandem with the marimba. This chorale fades to nothing as the marimba takes a solo cadenza, interjecting rapid flourishes up and down the instrument with the pensive chords of the opening theme.

    The third movement returns to the energy of the first, with insistently driving sixteenth notes pulsing over constantly shifting time signatures. Jagged thirty-second-note interruptions punctuate the steady stream of sixteenth notes. This driving melodic material is handed off to the winds, with the strings and xylophone plucking out a pizzicato bass line underneath. Not to be outdone, the marimbist reenters with a frenzied ascending line of blindingly fast thirty-second notes, leading the full ensemble into a syncopated but groovy theme.

    The ensemble drops out, leaving the marimba alone. After a moment, lyrical strings and winds overtake the marimba, leaving it as a pulsing motor underneath the melody. As the marimba churns out quintuplets, the winds take a beautiful chorale that evokes moments of the second movement. Suddenly the percussion section takes center stage, with the toms overtaking the ensemble. A marimba and drum duet ensues, utilizing material from the opening marimba gestures but now punctuated by the toms. It feels like a subtle homage to Marta Ptaszynska’s “Matre’s Dance,” but substituting marimba for piano. Once again the marimbist ascends the instrument with a frenzied thirty-second-note gesture to bring the full ensemble back for a restatement of the theme. This time, the marimbist trades flourishes with the winds. The piece crescendos to an emphatic fanfare, bringing the force of all 14 players to the final notes. The wall of sound created by the block chords in the bass of the marimba is sure to ring well past the final written eighth note.
    
    A prolific composer in the percussion field, Burritt’s signature style can be heard throughout “Ontario.” The virtuosic marimba flourishes, the warm and yearning chorales, and the energetic drum breaks are all characteristic of his works. “Ontario” is sure to become a standard in the percussion canon, alongside Burritt’s other works.

    —Hannah Weaver

• Credits +

  • Painting: Alyssa Hamilton
    Front Cover Artwork: Nicola Lee
    Photo: Colin McCall
    Printed in Copenhagen, Denmark
    Copyright © Edition SVITZER
    www.editionsvitzer.com

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